


When Lies Become the Truth

by hunter_king



Series: Supernatural - J2 [21]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bottom Jared Padalecki, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slash, Swearing, Top Jensen Ackles, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-29 01:20:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 58,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16734321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunter_king/pseuds/hunter_king
Summary: When Jared’s long term boyfriend takes him to an expensive restaurant Jared is hoping he’ll finally propose. Turns out his boyfriend is seeing someone else and wanted to ‘break it to Jared gently.’ To make matters worse, their gorgeous green-eyed waiter overhears everything and after his now ex leaves, offers to call Jared a cab home. Next day Jared gets a call from the restaurant to say he left his wallet and reluctantly Jared goes to pick it up, dreading seeing the kind eyed waiter again. However, it turns out the waiter wanted to see Jared because he knows exactly what Jared is going through. The guy Jared’s boyfriend was cheating on him with? That was his boyfriend. The waiter – Jensen, suggests a little revenge might be in order, after all they’ve been used and lied to, and how freaked out would their ex’s be if they were suddenly ‘together’ too? Jensen’s plan is simple – pretend to be in a relationship and show their ex’s what they are missing by acting totally in love with each other. Of course the old saying about ‘best laid plans’ comes true when Jensen and Jared start falling for each other for real, and their ex’s are not happy.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Fill for Imogen_lily  
> Written for the big_bigbang in November 2011  
> Beta'd by tornknees  
> Art by tiggeratl1 ([here](https://tigs-playground.livejournal.com/3701.html))

Jared’s palms were sweaty as he waited at the table for Tom to get back. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be the night Tom finally proposed. After all, they had been dating for almost five years now and Jared had dropped a lot of hints lately letting Tom know he was ready to take the next step and maybe start a family. Of course, Tom hadn’t shown much interest in all of that, but Jared knew what his boyfriend could be like sometimes; it didn’t mean that Tom didn’t care, necessarily. Besides, this was a very fancy restaurant, definitely not the kind they usually went to, so Jared was sure tonight had to be a special occasion; and what was more special than a marriage proposal?!

As he waited, he thought that everything he had gone through with Tom over the last five years – all the fights, the degradation, the way Tom treated him more like a toilet than his boyfriend – it was all going to be worth it now. After all, it wasn’t Tom’s fault that Jared was too clumsy, or too clingy and that he trusted too many people; all of that was Jared’s fault, and he had deserved everything Tom dished out at him. But tonight he had spent hours getting ready for this and he was so excited he could barely sit still.

A wide smile came to the younger male’s face when he saw his boyfriend walking back to the table. “I ordered you that pork meal you wanted,” Jared explained, unable to hide his smile. “And I had the waiter pour you another glass of champagne.” He was well aware of how much Tom loved his champagne and he knew that if he had come back to an empty glass, he probably would have been furious. Jared then slowly allowed his eyes to look around the place, taking in all of the little things that made it so beautiful, like the etchings in the wood that looked as though it had to have taken hours of work to look so perfect. “This is a really nice restaurant,” Jared smiled, eyes returning to Tom as if he was waiting for something.

“Yeah, I know it is,” Tom assured the younger male. “It’s costing you a pretty penny too, so you better enjoy yourself.” Sighing, Tom threw back his glass of champagne before he poured himself another; after all, he wasn’t paying, so he didn’t care how high he racked up the bill. “So, I know you’re not dumb enough to think that I brought here just because it’s Friday,” Tom continued, frowning at Jared’s wide smile. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

The way Tom was speaking to him didn’t really faze Jared, the younger male was used to it by now. Tom had trouble showing his emotions and Jared knew that; he didn’t have a problem with it because he loved Tom and he was willing to sacrifice being spoken to in a polite manner and the cuddling after sex. He didn’t need all of that; all he cared about was that he had Tom. “Okay,” he smiled, giving the older male a small nod. “What do you need to tell me?” It was hard to keep his excitement inside, though Jared tried his best, knowing that Tom hated it when he got too emotional.

Biting into his bottom lip, Tom explained, “Jared, this isn’t working for me anymore. I mean, we’re washed up. It’s boring being with you now because I’ve learned everything I need to know about you over the last five years and I feel that I’ve just peeled back the final layer and you have nothing left to give me.” A small sigh escaped Tom as he leaned forward and added, “I’ve met someone else, Jared. He and I have been seeing each other for a while now and I can feel that spark again that I don’t feel with you anymore.”

After hearing everything Tom had to say, Jared felt his heart sink, tears welling up in the younger male’s eyes. “You’re…breaking up with me?” Jared asked, head shaking slightly as his eyes darted back and forth on the table top. “But I…” His whole world was crashing down around him in an instant and Jared was finding it hard to keep his head above water. “I thought you were going to propose tonight.”

When he heard Tom burst out into laughter, Jared jumped slightly, a little startled by how cruel Tom was being right now. Never in a million years did he think that Tom would just up and leave him for another man; he had given Tom some of the best years of his life after all and he thought they had a deep connection. Apparently, he had been wrong. He wanted to be angry at Tom, but he couldn’t be; he loved him too much. 

“You thought I was going to propose?” Tom repeated, barely able to contain his laughter. “What would ever make you think that?!” He and Jared had talked about marriage on more than one occasion and Tom had been pretty sure he’d made himself clear about never wanting to get married. After all, he got bored with people quickly and he enjoyed partying and having a good time; he wouldn’t be able to do that if he was tied down to a husband. And he had said that to Jared in those exact words, so he didn’t feel bad that Jared looked like he had just kicked one of his precious pooches. However, he did care that Jared looked like he was about to get all emotional, and Tom couldn’t have that.

Quickly, Tom grabbed Jared’s arm and pulled the younger male close to him, hissing, “If you start crying and cause a scene, Jared, I am not going to be happy! If you embarrass me here, I swear to God, it will be the last thing you ever do!” At Jared’s nod to let him know that he got the point, Tom released him, straightening up and fixing the sleeve on his dress shirt since it had been messed when he grabbed Jared. “Now, I suggest we get the bill and get out of here; go our separate ways, so to speak. This is getting awkward.”

Just as Tom raised his hand to hail over their waiter, another waiter going to a different table accidentally spilled the stuffed pepper soup that he was carrying all over Tom’s lap, causing the man to jump out of his seat and scream in pain. “You…moron!” Tom shouted at the man. “This is an outrage!” Angrily, Tom demanded to speak to the manager, heading off to the front desk where he could complain to the hostess working that evening.

Once Tom was gone, Jared bit into his lip and looked up at the waiter, tear filled hazel eyes boring into sympathetic jade green. “Um…could you please find my waiter and get the check for me? I…I need to go home.” He didn’t want to lose his cool at the restaurant, but he knew that if he didn’t get out of here right now, he was going to burst out into tears.

The only answer Jared received was a small shake of the man’s head as he cleaned up the mess. “Dinner’s on us because of my little accident there,” he explained, giving Jared a small, goofy grin. His expression soon turned serious as he asked, “Hey, are you all right? You don’t look so great.” He didn’t really like to pry, but he didn’t know if letting this man leave in his current condition was such a great idea.

Jared nodded in answer, quickly standing before he turned to grab his suit jacket. “Yeah, I’m-I’m fine,” he assured the other male. “I just want to go home.” He didn’t give the waiter time to reply before he was heading out of the restaurant, giving one last sad look towards Tom as he chewed out the manager. Quickly, Jared hailed a cab and was on his way home, wondering where Tom was going to spend the night since he probably didn’t want to be around Jared and he had been crashing at Jared’s place until he got his financial problems all cleared out. Then again, Tom had mentioned another man, so Jared was sure Tom would probably be staying there tonight. 

As soon as he was in the privacy of the cab Jared broke down, ignoring the sympathetic looks he was getting from the cab driver. Right now he didn’t care about anything other than the fact that he had lost his other half and now he felt hollow and alone. This was quite the horrible ending to a night that he had thought was going to be so perfect; and maybe that was what made this all hurt so much more.

~~**~~

A small sigh escaped Jeffrey as he headed into the kitchen where he could get a little time alone after his recent encounter. The man who had gotten the soup spilled all over him seemed furious, not that Jeffrey could blame him, but he hadn’t even been sated when Jeffrey offered to give him his meal for free. He really hated people like that, knowing they were out there and the reason that he was seriously considering leaving the restaurant business. If this hadn’t been a family friend’s restaurant chain, he would have been out years ago.

He smiled and let out a soft chuckle when a shot of whiskey was placed in front of him. At the mumbled ‘rough day’ from the younger male, Jeffrey knocked back the whiskey and gave his head a small shake. “I could go another ten years without having to deal with someone like him,” Jeffrey explained, motioning for Jensen to pour him another shot. “He wasn’t your average jerk; he was more the type who complained just so he could hear his voice, I think.”

Chuckling, Jensen shook his head, giving his old pal a small, sympathetic shake of his head. “Yeah, I hate those types,” he agreed. “I knew the guy was going to be a douchebag the minute he walked through that door. And did you see the way he was treating his boyfriend? No one deserves to be treated that way; especially not someone as cute and sweet as…Jared Padalecki.”

His smile was quickly wiped off his face when the wallet that he’d been holding was snatched out of his hands. “Wow, you stole the guy’s wallet?!” Christian asked as he walked around the oven and handed it to the cook, who just happened to be his lover, kissing Steve for good measure. “That’s sick; you’re kind of demented, you know that? The poor guy was just dumped and you’re already thinking about making the moves on him?”

“Don’t try to deny it Jenny-bean,” Steve warned, cutting Jensen’s reply off. “Even _I_ could see the way you were staring at him all night from back here. You were practically drooling over the kid. Not that I blame you; I mean, he was really cute.” Frowning at Christian, he assured his boyfriend, “Though not as cute as you Chrissykins, you know that.” Once again, he turned his attention back to Jensen, giving a small shrug as he explained, “I mean, all I’m saying is that you should give him a few days to get over the dick he had on his arm before you make a move. I think your chances will be much higher.”

Jensen rolled his eyes as he listened to his friends giving him advice, quickly pushing himself away from the counter he had been leaning against. “Oh please, do you two honestly think that I’m going to make a move on this guy? I don’t even know him!” Shrugging, he added, “And besides, I’m coming out of a relationship of my own, you know. In case you all forgot, I am a grieving man who just lost his boyfriend to Jared’s boyfriend, okay? Maybe a little comfort is something we both need.” He hadn’t known at first that Kerr had been cheating on him, but it wasn’t hard to see the signs when Jensen started actually paying attention. And then one visit to Kerr’s office revealed that Tom Welling was the man who Kerr was having an affair with. They weren’t very good at hiding it, after all.

Hearing a scoff from behind him, Jensen turned to look at the new arrival. “I don’t think he needs the same kind of comfort you’re looking to give him,” Danneel assured Jensen, giving her head a small shake. “I saw the kid before he ran out of here and let’s just say that he does not look the type who likes to party and have a good time. He looked more reserved and kind of…shy.” Smiling, Danneel wrapped her arm around Jensen after she tossed the dishes she was carrying into the sink. “But I’m available if you ever get too bored.”

A soft snort of laughter left Jensen when Danneel suggested that she was available, the older male gently getting out of her hold. “Haven’t we been down that road before, Danni?” he asked, giving her a small smile. “And besides, you’re kind of barking up the wrong tree now since I’m more into men these days.” He laughed when he heard Steve call out a ‘here, here,’ knowing that the other male was just trying to make Danneel angry. “Besides, I thought you were dating that other guy…Mike, I think his name was.”

The small nod he received in answer had Jensen frowning, wondering why Danneel would hit on him when she was already involved with someone else. Of course, he wasn’t about to ask, knowing that he sure as hell didn’t want to even attempt to understand the female brain; it was a scary place in there and he kind of liked to keep things simple; sometimes he wondered if maybe that was the reason he’d swung more towards men, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Oh my God Jensen,” Danneel suddenly exclaimed, picking up Jared’s wallet and holding it up for him to see. “You stole the guy’s wallet?! What’s wrong with you?!” She knew that he was a little messed up because of the break up, but she never thought Jensen would go so far as to steal a wallet to get a date. That was something even she wouldn’t do; and there was hardly anything she wouldn’t do at least once. 

Agitatedly, Jensen snatched the wallet out of Danneel’s hands, shaking his head. “No, I didn’t _steal_ his wallet,” he assured her. “He left it here because he was upset and wanted to get out of here as fast as he could, all right? And I have every intention of getting it back to him, so it’s not like I’m some kind of petty thief who wants the guy’s wallet or wants to steal his identity or something. You guys need to chill, seriously.”

With that, Jensen left the kitchen, heading into the dining room to deal with the tables he still had customers at. He had plans to call Jared tomorrow and tell him that he’d forgotten his wallet here and that he would be here all day if he wanted to come pick it up. Of course, he wasn’t actually scheduled to work tomorrow since this was his family’s restaurant and he wasn’t really employed here; he was only filling in because that bitch Genevieve called off again. Sometimes he wondered why Jeffrey even let her keep her job, but he was sure it had something to do with the fact that waitresses were in short supply right now and she did know how to do the job and do it well; when she showed up, anyway.

**~~**

Misha was at a loss for words as he waited for the girls to arrive at Jared’s apartment. He hadn’t been through a break up since high school and that was because he had dumped the girl when he caught her sucking face with the head cheerleader. Because he hadn’t been the one who got dumped, he wasn’t too broken up about it; and he had never been in a relationship with a man, so this was all a little confusing for him. “Do you wanna watch the game, or something? I think the Cowboys are playing.”

When Jared wrapped his arms around him and started sobbing, Misha frowned, wondering what the hell he had done wrong now. It hit him a moment later, the older male wanting to kick himself for even bringing up football; Jared and Tom used to watch the game every time it was on and now Jared probably thought of Tom every time it was mentioned. Sighing, Misha wrapped an arm around Jared and talked to him in hushed tones, assuring him that Sandy and Sophia would be here soon.

Sure enough, the door burst open and the girls, accompanied by Chad, ran into the room, practically shoving Misha away from Jared. “What did you say to him?!” Sophia demanded, glaring at Misha. “We told you to keep your mouth shut until we got here!” Misha was a really nice guy, but when it came to relationships and break ups and Jared’s feelings, he was about as useful as white out on pink paper. 

Now that Sandy and Sophia were here, Misha was more than happy to just take a back seat and relax while they worked their magic and made him all better. Jared was no fun when he was a mess like this after all and the sooner they fixed him the better. “I didn’t say anything to him!” Misha assured them. “He was like that when I got here and then I might have mentioned something and he kind of got upset. But I didn’t mean to!”

“Oh so you did say _something_ to him,” Sandy snapped, rolling her eyes at the idiocy of men. This was a prime example of why she was a lesbian; nothing like this ever happened between her and the girls she dated because they always had a wonderful, understanding relationship. Men were cruel and heartless; and poor Jared had been with the biggest dick of them all. “Jared honey, come here,” she mumbled, pulling Jared into a hug. “It’s okay; you can tell us what happened. We have ice cream and those gummy worms you love so much.”

At the mention of the gummy worms, Jared slowly lifted his head off Sandy’s shoulders, looking around for the bag and snatching it up as soon as he found it. Of course, he tossed them back onto the floor a minute later and started crying again. “I’m too upset to eat!” he explained, giving his head a small shake. “Tom was everything to me! I loved him so much and now there’s a hole in my chest and it seems like nothing will make it better. I feel like I can’t breathe, Sandy!” Taking a few hiccupping breaths, Jared started, “Tom was –”

The door suddenly flew open and Megan walked in, followed by Jeff. “Tom was an insecure asshole who didn’t deserve you,” Megan assured Jared as she walked over to her brother, kneeling on the floor beside him. “He was using you, Jared and deep down, I know that you know it too. Really, you’re better off without him and trust me when I tell you: we’ll all be the better for it.”

Rolling his eyes, Jeff mumbled, “Don’t sugar coat it for him or anything.” While he was completely on board with his sister, Jeff knew that Jared was the most sensitive of the three and he needed to be spoken to about Tom gently; they had only broken up a few hours ago, after all. And if they wanted their plans to hook Jared up with the fine and charming Matt Cohen, they were going to need to give it to him softly.

Megan mimicked Jeff’s actions as she turned her attention to the eldest Padalecki child. “I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking,” she argued, grabbing the bag of gummy worms and tearing them open. “Now, eat some of these worms Jay and tell us everything that bastard did to you.” Smiling, she handed her brother a red and blue worm, knowing that they were Jared’s favorite.

Although he really didn’t want to talk about this right now, Jared knew there was no way in hell his sister was going to let up until he spilled the beans; she wasn’t as big of a pushover as Sandy or Sophia, unfortunately. Sniffling, he took the gummy worm and bit it in half, thinking of how he was going to explain this night’s events as he chewed the candy. “Tom asked me to meet him at this really expensive, fancy restaurant so I thought he was going to propose,” Jared started, feeling the memories breaking his heart all over again. “But instead he told me that he’d met someone else and that I was boring. He said that the spark had gone out of our relationship and he knew everything about me.”

He made sure to leave the part where Tom threatened him if he caused a scene out of his story, knowing that everyone in this room already hated Tom and there was no use in adding to that hatred. After all, there was still a chance they would get back together. “Um…then one of the waiters working spilled soup all over Tom and he got mad; he started yelling at the hostess until the manager came out. I left my wallet there in my hurry to get away; I didn’t even realize it until I went to pay the cab driver. Thankfully he could tell that I was having a bad night and he told me not to worry about it.” 

Angrily, Megan exclaimed, “If that dick ever even thinks about trying to contact you again Jared, you better let me know. I’ll kill him, I swear to God!” She reeled in her anger as she handed Jared another gummy worm, knowing her older brother wouldn’t get one for himself because of his current state; Jared didn’t like to eat when he was upset and Megan would be damned if she was going to allow Jared to let this affect him so much. “Look, I know you loved the guy and everything Jay, but it’s time to move on. Get back on the horse and find someone who truly deserves you!”

“Megan,” Jeff hissed, giving his head a small shake when his little sister looked back at him. He understood the need for Jared to find someone else and move on, but there was no way in hell he was going to allow Megan to push Jared too hard and screw this thing up for them. Matt was a nice, respectable man with a good future ahead of him; just what they wanted for Jared. But if they tried to shove Jared into the man’s arms, Jared would run screaming in the opposite direction.

Before Megan could reply to her brother, Chad piped in. “No, your sister’s right Jared,” he defended, giving a small nod. “I mean, if Sandy and I hadn’t moved on after our break up, she never would have realized she was a lesbian, and I would have never found Sophia.” Smiling at his girlfriend, Chad added, “I think it would be best if he found someone and moved on with his life; the sooner the better as far as I’m concerned.”

A small frown came to Jared’s lips when Chad and Megan seemed to be adamant about him getting out and starting to date already after only a few hours of him being single. He didn’t want to get out there and try to find someone new; he wanted Tom! No one else was going to make him happy, Jared was sure of it! “I don’t want to move on,” Jared mumbled, giving a small sigh as he pushed himself to his feet. “I just want to go to sleep.”

Before Jared could get too far away, Megan grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks. “Will you just think about it, please?” she asked, begging her brother with her eyes. “I think you’ll be a lot happier and a lot better off if you’re with someone who loves you. Tom was all wrong for you, Jay; don’t you think it’s time for you to find someone who is right for you?”

Although it was only to get away so he could be alone, Jared nodded, giving his sister a small smile. “Okay, I’ll think about it,” he assured the younger woman. “But right now I really just want to get some sleep. You guys can stay here if you want to; just make sure you lock up before you go.” With that, Jared retreated to his bedroom, ready for the long night of tears that awaited him.


	2. Chapter Two

The sound of the phone ringing pulled Jared from his sleep, the young male quickly grabbing his phone and pressing the _SEND_ button. “Hello?” he asked, his voice still rough with sleep. One look at the clock told him that it was already half past ten; Jared was actually surprised that he had slept so long. Then again, Jared had gotten off to bed late last night and even then he’d spent at least an hour crying. 

“Is this Jared Padalecki?” the man on the other end asked. When Jared confirmed that this was his phone, the man continued, “Hi, I’m calling from L’ Amour about a wallet that was left here last night.” He smiled softly when Jared thanked him and asked if he could drop by later to pick it up. “Absolutely; I’ll be here until around three o’clock so you can just stop in whenever. Ask for Jensen.”

As Jensen spoke, Jared jotted down the relevant information before he once again thanked him and hung up the phone. Although he wasn’t too keen on going back to that restaurant, he knew that he needed his wallet and the sooner he got it, the better. And once he got his wallet back, he could put last night out of his mind and get on track to forgetting about it completely. 

Sighing, Jared pushed himself out of the bed, knowing that he definitely needed a shower before he could go anywhere. He had until three o’clock to get to the restaurant so it wasn’t like he had to rush too much; it only took about an hour to get to the restaurant after all, so he had plenty of time. 

He took a longer shower than he actually needed to, Jared just wanting to get all of the tension out of his body; unfortunately, his plan hadn’t really worked all that well because Jared still felt horrible in every sense of the word. It was a start though, and Jared at least felt clean, which was a plus. When he got home, he had every intention of going back to bed, so it wasn’t like he had to feel spectacular, or anything.

Once he was dressed, Jared quickly made his way out the door and hailed a cab; his car was in the shop at the moment, so getting around was a little hard. Fortunately, everyone was already at work or wherever else they needed to go, so getting a cab wasn’t exactly a job like it usually was. The drive seemed like it took forever though, Jared spending his time thinking about what had gone wrong between him and Tom; after all, there had to be something Jared could do to get him back, and Jared was ready to spend every waking moment figuring it out.  
Finally, he was outside the club, the same taxi driver as the night before luckily remembering that he had forgotten his wallet and telling Jared he would let it slide again. Really, Jared had never met such a nice cab driver, but he sure was happy they still existed. With a small frown on his face, Jared walked into the restaurant, asking for Jensen when the woman at the front counter asked how she could help him.

It wasn’t long before Jared was led to the bar where he was told to wait for Jensen, the petite blonde woman letting him know that Jensen would be out in a moment. While he waited, Jared looked around the restaurant once more, admiring all of the little details that made it look so lovely. He really wished he hadn’t banned this place from his list of restaurants to come back to because it was actually a really nice restaurant; it would have been perfect for a proposal. The thought alone dredged up the memories of the night before, Jared feeling tears start to form behind his eyes. 

Before the tears could fall, Jared noticed the waiter who had spilled the soup all over Tom had taken a seat beside him. He gave the man, Jensen, a small smile, trying to keep his spirits up until he at least got out of the restaurant; he would cry in the cab again if he had to. “Thank you for grabbing my wallet,” he thanked, his smile widening just a little, causing his dimple to show. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d actually lost it.”

Although he could tell Jared was trying so hard to hide it, Jensen could see the younger male was still broken up about last night. Handing Jared the wallet, Jensen motioned for Chris to get his ass over there, ordering a couple of beers because he knew Jared probably needed to vent and he knew that he needed to vent. “So…about last night?” Jensen started, smiling at his friend when he placed the beers down in front of them. “You want to talk about it? I mean, you don’t know me, but I’m the guy whose ex-boyfriend yours is dating now.”

When Jensen told him that Tom was now dating his ex-boyfriend, the younger male frowned sympathetically, giving his head a small shake. “Does…Does it feel like there’s a hole in your chest and it takes so much effort just to take your next breath that sometimes you don’t even feel like it’s worth it?” Jared asked, a tear sliding down his cheek as he explained the way he was feeling without Tom in his life. “Like without him in your life you don’t know what to do with the next moment, and the one after that, and the one after that…knowing what you’ve lost?”

“N-No, not really,” Jensen answered, giving his head a small shake. “Kerr and I were kind of on the rocks for a while and we’d been arguing again; it wasn’t really that much of a shock when he told me that he was cheating on me.” Shrugging, Jensen added, “Really, I was more pissed than hurt when he told me.” To Jensen, faithfulness was the heart of the relationship; if your significant other couldn’t be true to you and you alone, there was no trust. And without trust, there was really no relationship. “To be honest Jared, I was going to dump Kerr months ago, but I didn’t want to hurt him, you know. I mean, I cared about the guy; but now…I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what happens to him.”

A small frown came to Jared’s lips when Jensen spoke, the younger male not understanding how someone could go through life being with someone else just because they didn’t want to hurt them. Now that it was in his head, it got him thinking; how long had Tom been dating him only because he hadn’t wanted to hurt his delicate feelings? But of course, Tom wouldn’t do that, right? He wasn’t that cruel.

Suddenly, Jared burst into tears, everything from the last day and half catching up with him and just overwhelming him. He wanted Tom back and deep down, something was telling him that it was never going to happen. Just the words the older male had used about them being washed up and Jared not having any more layers to peel back told him that they were done and there was nothing he could do about it. Jared was kidding himself to think otherwise and he knew that.

Much to Jared’s surprise, instead of leaving him alone to cry, Jensen actually stayed there and comforted him, the older male gently rubbing Jared’s back and speaking soothing words into his ear. It felt good to be touched and feel like he was getting attention; Tom hadn’t touched him in about two months unless he’d wanted sex. Then again, Tom had never been overly loving and affectionate, so maybe that was why Jared seemed starved for the attention now that he was getting it. 

As he continued to rub Jared’s back, Jensen suggested, “You know Jared, I think we can help each other out here. Now, I don’t know much about your ex, but from what I saw last night, he seemed a little possessive of you. Even when he knew he had come here to break your heart, he still acted as if you were his…property, almost. Was he? You know…possessive?”

Possessive was such a strong word to use. Slowly, Jared shook his head, biting into his bottom lip. “I wouldn’t use the word possessive, exactly,” he answered. “He just…didn’t want anyone else to think they could have me. I was his and I was fine with that.” Okay, so maybe now that it was being put under a microscope, Tom was a little bit possessive. Why hadn’t Jared noticed these things before? Or had he but he was too much in love to really see them?

Nodding, Jensen explained, “So he was possessive. Good, so was Kerr. We need that to make my little plan work.” He could tell that Jared was a little skeptical about all of this, so he wanted to put the younger male at ease. “Look, you don’t have to agree with this if you don’t want to; hell, you can tell me to go pound salt and I would totally understand. But I think this is going to help us both in the long run. I mean, I want Kerr to suffer and you obviously want your ex back and I think this can get that for the both of us.”

“What are you suggesting?” Jared asked, brows knit in confusion as he stared into deep jade pools. If there was something out there that might help him get Tom back, then Jared was definitely all ears. After all, he had made a vow to himself in the cab on the way over here that he wasn’t going to stop until there were no more options left on the table. If Jensen was providing a way out of this lonely state Jared was in and a possible way to get Tom back, then Jared was all ears.

A wide grin came to Jensen’s face when Jared seemed interested in his offer, the older male sliding closer to Jared and leaning on the counter a little more to make their conversation a bit more intimate. “Date me.” Seeing that he was already about to lose Jared, Jensen quickly shook his head and began to explain the meaning behind his words. “Not for real; be my fake boyfriend. Kerr will go out of his mind with jealousy and so will Tom, which will have him begging you to take him back.” Gently, Jensen bit into his bottom lip, eyes searching Jared’s face for any sign of doubt. “So…what do you say?”

Out loud, the plan sounded pretty damn good to Jared now that he knew he wasn’t making a commitment to another man when his heart was still stuck on Tom. Sighing, Jared gave his head a small nod. “All right, I’ll do it. There’s just one little problem; I don’t even know you. I mean, don’t you think we should know each other before we start dating? Even if it is all fake, Tom and Kerr won’t know that and I’m sure they’ll ask questions about us that we should know the answer to. And right now, if you asked me what your last name was, I wouldn’t be able to answer the question.”

Another smile came to Jensen’s face when Jared started rambling; he knew that Jared was hot just by looking at him, but he’d had absolutely no idea just how _cute_ the younger male was. “Well, that’s why we’re going to have to sit down and talk about these sorts of things. We need to come up with a background story about how we met and all of that fun couple stuff that people ask about. I’m free for the rest of the day if you want to do it now. Or you know, we could meet up later and do it then; either one works for me.”

One look at his watch told Jared that he should be home calling his sister right now and telling her that he just wasn’t ready to meet anyone new, leading Jared to the decision of meeting up later and hashing out the details of their “relationship.” If Jensen had all day, then there was no reason this couldn’t wait until later, after all. “You know, I should get going; I have to call my sister. Um…we should get together later. At your place? I’d invite you to mine, but my dogs are a little iffy when it comes to strangers.”

At the mention of dogs, Jensen smiled, giving Jared a small nod. “Yeah, you can come over to my place. It’s just gonna be me and Icarus there tonight so you can just drop by whenever you like.” Grabbing a bar napkin, Jensen jotted down his address before handing the napkin to Jared. “Here’s my address. You’re lucky Icarus loves strangers as long as they’re dog people and they treat him nicely. I can tell you’re one of those people who treat animals better than you treat most people, huh?”

Jared gave a small smile as his answer, knowing that it was sometimes true. He couldn’t help it; sometimes people were assholes and deserved to be treated badly! Animals were the only ones who could be trusted and counted on. People were dicks most of the time and when that happened, animals were there to make you feel better. “All right, I’ll be around sometime later. I look forward to meeting Icarus; he sounds like a real charmer.”

**~~**

True to his word, Jared showed up at Jensen’s house around seven o’clock. “Hi,” he mumbled, biting into his bottom lip as he fidgeted from on foot to the other. “I, um…I hope I’m not interrupting anything; you said come over whenever and this is the first time I’ve been free all day.” The talk he had with Megan about this mystery man she was attempting to set him up with lasted a lot longer that he thought it was going to. She had been upset that he refused to meet this guy and Jared had spent practically twenty minutes trying to calm her down. Finally, he blurted out that he’d met someone, which got her off her tangent. Then the conversation moved to the man he’d met and Jared knew jack squat about him; so he had no choice but to come here tonight.

It was hard not to smile around Jared; Jensen was quickly coming to learn. “No, you didn’t interrupt anything,” Jensen assured the younger male. “Just movie night with Icarus.” Stepping aside, Jensen motioned for Jared to come in, smile widening when the younger male stepped inside the room. “You can have a seat; just be careful because Icarus likes to jump up on people.” Once the door was closed, Jensen offered, “Can I get you a drink? I’ve got just about every alcoholic drink you can think of.”

As soon as Jared sat down, Icarus jumped up on him from the floor where he had been sitting and started licking his face, Jared smiling and laughing at the dog as he scratched behind his ears. “Uh, just get me a beer thanks,” Jared answered, relaxing back against the couch as he continued to give Icarus attention. He thanked Jensen once again when he handed him the cold beverage. “So, where should we start?”

They spent at least two hours asking each other questions about their lives, both men wanting to get to know the other a little better to make this scheme of theirs work. So a pizza, three beers each, and about half a notebook full of notes later, they were finally done with their little Q&A session. Jensen seemed like a pretty interesting person as far as Jared could tell and he was actually looking forward to spending more time with him, much to Jared’s surprise. After all, this was merely a ploy to get Tom back and Jared had no intention of actually falling for Jensen; then again, liking someone’s company and falling for them were two completely different things.

Glancing at the clock, Jared gave a small sigh, not even having realized how late it had become. “Wow, it’s really late,” he chuckled, giving his head a small shake. “I should get home. I mean, I don’t have my car and the taxi cab drivers get a little shadier with each passing hour, so I gotta be careful about that.” The last time he had been out past one o’clock his cab driver offered to sell him some drugs; and when he refused, the man asked Jared if he wanted sexual favors in exchange for cash. Needless to say, Jared had the man let him out of the cab right there and he’d walk the last mile to his house.

“I can take you home if you want me to,” Jensen offered, knowing what Jared meant about the cab drivers. He didn’t know from personal experience, but he had a personal driver who was also in the cab business and he’d heard stories. It wasn’t safe out there at this hour and Jensen would feel so much better if Jared allowed him to take him back to his place. Of course, he knew that he was practically a stranger to the younger male, but he was a lot less shady than those cab drivers who were out and about at this hour.

Given the choice between Jensen and the cab drivers, it was a no-brainer, the younger male giving a small nod as he smiled at Jensen. “If it’s not any trouble, sure. I mean, I don’t mind taking the cab if you don’t want to take me home.” He knew that Jensen was polite from the Q&A session, so he didn’t want to take advantage of Jensen kindness by having him give him a ride if Jensen was busy or something. 

A wide smile came to Jensen’s face as he shook his head in answer. “Trust me Jared, it’s not any trouble. Just let me grab my keys.” His smile stayed plastered on his lips as he headed into his bedroom to fetch the keys to his pickup truck; any chance he got to spend a little extra time with Jared, he was going to take it. He was back a few minutes later, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on as he watched Jared and Icarus playing. “He likes you,” Jensen observed, his smile quickly returning to his face. “I mean, he’s not even that friendly with Chris and he comes over all of the time. He’s not really fond of Steve either, but that’s because Steve smells like a giant overcooked pastry, I would imagine.”

Jared couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him when Jensen explained Icarus’s relationship with his best friends, giving the dog one last scratch behind the ears before he pushed himself to his full height, opening the door and heading out into the chilly night air. “I have a good relationship with animals, I guess,” Jared explained. “My dogs love me and I seem to have that effect on most dogs; they all love me.” He was actually quite proud of his ability to have all of the dogs in one room flock to him with love in their eyes and their little tails all wagging as they begged for attention; had to have been the animal lover in him, he was sure.

It wasn’t hard to believe that Icarus already loved Jared; hell Jensen was pretty damn fond of him and they had only spent a few hours together. Then again, Jared had the looks going for him too in Jensen’s opinion; Jensen was pretty sure Icarus didn’t care if Jared was hot or not. “I can tell that you can win over a crowd of animals just by walking into the room. I mean, Icarus spent almost the whole night with you when I sitting only about a foot away, if that. Clearly, you have some sort of doggy whispering abilities or something.”

The laugh Jensen got out of Jared was certainly genuine, the younger male realizing that this was the first time he’d felt like himself since the break-up; hell, maybe even before the break-up. Tom and Jared never really joked around a lot after the first year and a half. Something would always get in the way of Tom’s happy mood and he would either insist that he leave at that very second or demand that Jared lie down so he could take what he wanted. Of course, Jared hadn’t minded having sex with Tom because he knew that Tom thought sex made a relationship last and made it healthy; but sometimes, Jared wished that Tom would have been a little more giving rather than so demanding with him during their love making. 

Now that didn’t really matter though because Tom wasn’t with him at the moment. Maybe it was something Jared could mention when they got back together, though he was pretty sure he was going to keep his mouth shut. After all, the relationship they had before seemed to have been working until the very end, so there was no reason to change it as far as Jared was concerned. But he wasn’t thinking about it right now; he was going home to get some rest before his and Jensen’s plan took effect. It was going to be difficult fooling his siblings and his ex-boyfriend that was sure, so he planned on getting a lot of sleep and giving it all he had in the morning.

Once they made it to Jared’s house, Jensen put the car in park, but didn’t turn it off; after all, Jared had mentioned something about his dogs not liking strangers, so Jensen didn’t want to push his luck too much. They had been having a really good night and Jensen didn’t want to screw it up because he wanted to go inside with Jared and steal a few more minutes. “Well, I’ll stay until you get into your house just in case you need me,” he offered, pretty sure Jared wasn’t going to need him, but feeling better if he stayed and waited just to be safe. “Um…I guess I’ll call you tomorrow afternoon sometime and we can talk about how we’re going to get at Tom and Kerr. Just…remember to only tell your close friends; if this leaks that it’s a scam, it won’t work.”

Nodding, Jared answered, “Yeah, I know. I’ll make sure that I’m careful about who I tell. Only Misha, Chad, Sandy and Sophia will know. Well, maybe Vicky too because she’s Misha’s girlfriend, but she won’t tell anyone.” He wanted to ask Jensen if he wanted to come by tomorrow and meet his friends, but he didn’t want to seem to forward. Then again, he had spent nearly half the night at Jensen’s house tonight, so maybe it wasn’t forward at all. “You know, you can swing by tomorrow if you want to. They’ll be here and it’ll give you a chance to meet them. I’d love to meet your friends too if you want me to. They work at the restaurant, right? Maybe…we could go there to eat tomorrow night or something?”

Another wide smile came to Jensen’s lips at Jared’s offer, the older male giving a small nod. “Yeah, that sounds awesome. The restaurant closes around eleven if you want to maybe grab some dessert or something; I mean, it’ll probably be better to get dessert unless you want to go at like nine and grab a late dinner. They won’t really be able to talk if they’re working; Jeffrey really hates it when they stop to socialize.”

Of course Jeffrey would have hated it when the workers stopped to socialize; what the hell was Jared thinking?! “Yeah that’s all right with me. A late dinner sounds like it could be fun. Just…come by around five and I’ll make sure everyone’s here so you can meet them. And then maybe we can hang out and talk for a while before we head to the restaurant? I…like talking to you. You’re really interesting…and really nice.”

“Yeah,” Jensen answered, giving Jared another nod as his smile grew. “I really like talking to you too. And I’m really looking forward to meeting your friends. But five o’clock is a little early for me; I have something I gotta do tomorrow. So…maybe I can swing by around six? Would that work?” When he received the nod from Jared he smiled again, glad they were already making plans to meet again.

Jared returned Jensen’s smile as he pushed the door open, stepping out of the pickup truck. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Good night Jensen.” He waved slightly after he shut the door, heading to his own door and fishing his keys out of his pocket. Once he had his door open, he turned back towards the pickup truck and waved again, letting Jensen know he was safe for sure now so he could leave if he wanted to. The smile that was on his face stayed there for the remainder of the evening as Jared curled up in bed with Harley and Sadie, ready to get some sleep and prepare for the long day ahead of him tomorrow.


	3. Chapter Three

“So, you’re actually dating someone else already; only you’re not really dating him, but instead using him to make Tom jealous because you’re trying to get him back?” Chad asked, obviously confused by the whole thing. “And it was all his idea because Tom was cheating on you with his ex-boyfriend and he’s trying to get back at said ex-boyfriend? Am I getting all of this down right?” He knew he had a tendency to get confused a lot, but this was something he was sure he had down pat and he wasn’t sure how he really felt about this whole situation.

Nodding, Jared answered, “Yeah, seems like that about covers it.” Jared was aware of how all of this sounded out loud, but it was a good plan on paper. At least that was what he had thought last night. Now he wasn’t so sure because his friends were looking at him like he was some kind of criminal and he didn’t like it. “So…you guys think I should stop this before it gets too involved and I actually end up getting hurt, huh?”

Much to his surprise, his friends all shook their heads at once. “I think it’s actually a pretty decent plan,” Misha piped up, frowning at Vicky when she elbowed him in the ribs. “What? I feel that Jared needs to get out there and have a little fun. He was always a downer when he was with Tom.” Seeing that Jared was now frowning at him, Misha frowned right back. “Well you were. Look, all I’m saying is that this might be a good experience for you. And you might find that you don’t want Tom back, which would be even better because the guy was a total tool.” Again Misha frowned when everyone seemed to give him the stink eye at the same time. “What? You were all thinking it; I’m just the only one with the balls to say it out loud.”

Before Misha could continue, Vicky quickly asked, “So, when is this mystery man getting here? I’m dying to meet him.” She really was too. See, like Misha, she had a theory that, somewhere along the way, Jared was actually going to inadvertently fall for the man he was pretending to date and realize how wrong Tom had been for him. At least that was what she was hoping; and if her hopes panned out, they wouldn’t have to deal with Tom Welling again as long as they lived. “What did you say his name was again?”

Jared was pretty sure his friends were wrong, but he was going to give them their little hopes. After all, it was no secret that they hated Tom. But they at least tried to like him and attempted to get along with him when they were around him for Jared’s sake, so that was really all Jared could have asked for. “His name is Jensen Ackles and he’s supposed to be getting here around six today. I figured we could hang out here and talk, get you guys caught up on the story of how we met and everything, and then we’re going to grab a late dinner at the restaurant his friends work at and I’ll be meeting them after closing.” Biting into his bottom lip, Jared reminded, “Remember that you can’t tell anyone else that Jensen and I aren’t actually dating. Especially not Jeff and Megan because they were trying to hook me up with some guy yesterday and I told them that I’d already met someone. So now they’re counting on me to have someone to show off to them and Jensen’s that someone. If they find out that it’s all fake, they won’t forgive me.”

Gently, Sophia rubbed the center of Jared’s back as she assured him, “Don’t worry Jared, we won’t let them know anything you don’t want them knowing.” Licking her lips, she asked, “So, are you really only doing this to get back with Tom? I mean, do you think there’s a possibility that this Jensen guy might make you happier than Tom did? Maybe…you know, the two of you could try to go out for real and see how it goes?” More than any of the others, Sophia wanted Jared to move on; she and Tom had a fling before he met Jared and it hadn’t ended well. Tom had always taken her to parties and got her drunk and he’d even gotten her hooked on cocaine for a while. Luckily, she’d met Chad and he helped her get straight, but just the thought of Tom made her skin crawl. Now that Jared wasn’t dating him anymore, she thought she would be free, but it was apparently just a dream.

Again, Jared bit into his bottom lip as he gave his head a small shake. “I don’t think so,” he answered. “I mean, I don’t think Jensen is ready to be in a relationship again after the break-up and I know I’m not. I still want to be with Tom; I…love him. And I don’t think that’s something you can just shut off while you’re out with someone else. I need time to heal after everything and even then, I don’t know if I’ll ever want to date again.” Sighing, Jared added, “If this doesn’t work, and I can’t get Tom back…I don’t think I’ll ever want to put my heart out there again. Not after getting it broken like this, you know?”

The doorbell rang before their conversation could be continued, Jared glancing at the clock and putting on a wide smile as he turned his attention back to his friends. “Well, that must be Jensen. I’ll be right back.” Although he would never admit it, there was a slight bounce in his step as he walked to the door, kind of glad that it was already time to see Jensen again. When he opened the door, however, his eyes widened slightly before he steeled his features once more. “Megan, Jeff, what are you guys doing here?” he asked, giving his siblings a small smile as he stepped aside to let them into the house. “I thought you guys had dinner plans with Mom and Dad?”

“We did,” Megan answered with a small smile as she walked into the house, tossing her purse and jacket over one of the chairs tucked under the table. “And we’re done already. Mom and Dad had plans with some investor later this evening so it was more of a lunch really.” Smiling wider, she flopped down on the couch beside Misha. “They said this guy should really bring in the dough so we might actually get to go vacationing somewhere cool this year.” Pointing at Jared then, Megan added, “Oh and they want to see you sometime later this month.”

A small frown came to Jared’s lips when Megan said they could vacation somewhere cool this year. It wasn’t like they were poor, actually just the opposite. The Padalecki’s were a fairly rich, rather well-known family, though they preferred to stay out of the limelight as much as they could. “So the Bahamas and Hawaii when you were seven and ten wasn’t cool enough for you, Megs?” he asked, giving a snort of disbelief. His sister wasn’t greedy, though it sometimes came off that way and he liked to call her out on it as much as possible so she would know she was doing it. 

However, when Megan told him that his parents wanted to see him, he nearly stopped breathing. He and his parents didn’t exactly get along anymore because of Tom. When he refused to leave Tom on their command, they told him to choose between them and his boyfriend; Jared had chosen Tom and he hadn’t spoken to his parents since then. They claimed that Tom was using Jared and he would hurt him after he got what he wanted; of course, Jared knew they were wrong. “What? Why would they want to see me? We don’t even talk anymore.”

Taking a seat on the arm of the lounging chair beside Sandy, Jeff explained, “Megs might have let it slip that you and Tom broke up a couple nights ago. And she might have also let it slip that you maybe have another boyfriend and they want to meet him.” He knew that Jared would be mad about something like this, but he was pretty sure that it would get Jared and their parents speaking again. As long as this new guy wasn’t a dick like Tom had been. If that was the case, then it would only drive the wedge further between them. 

Megan looked up at her brother as Jared frowned at her, using her most effective weapon – her innocent, little sister smile. “So, when do we get to meet this mystery man? I’m so excited, I can barely keep all this emotion inside me!” Although she was using sarcasm to get her point across, she genuinely was curious to meet this man who had been able to catch Jared’s eye so quickly after his heartbreak. After all, Jared seemed like a completely different person than the man she had seen that Friday night crying his eyes out because “the love of his life” had just dumped him. He seemed happy and more like his old self than he had in years and Megan loved seeing him like this.

It was easier to just drop the subject of his parents for now, Jared was sure, knowing that there was no way he could get out of this so there was no point in trying. He would just have to explain to Jensen that his sister had a big mouth sometimes and he almost always got caught in the crossfire. Hopefully, Jensen would understand. “He should be here any minute,” Jared answered his sister with a small nod. “And I want you two to play nice; all of you, actually.” Biting into his bottom lip, Jared thought about his words carefully, trying to remember back to the day when he had first introduced Tom to his friends and family. “I really like this guy and I don’t want you guys chasing him away before you even give him a chance.”

Before anyone could respond, the doorbell rang again, Jared turning his head towards the door and smiling softly. “That’s him probably. I’ll be right back. Remember, play nice. Please don’t screw this up for me.” Quickly, Jared made his way to the door, opening it and giving Jensen a wide smile when he saw the older male standing there. He quickly pressed his hand to Jensen’s chest when he tried to walk in though, knowing he needed to warn him about his siblings being here. “Hey, Megan and Jeff dropped by because that dinner ended early,” he explained, voice whisper soft so no one else could hear them. “Just thought you should know that we’re not alone here and they don’t know anything about…this thing between us.” Smiling, he moved his hand, running it through his shaggy hair before he stepped aside to let Jensen in. “Hope you brushed up on your acting skills.”

In all honesty, Jensen had been kind of planning on Jared’s siblings being here for the first meeting that way he wouldn’t be surprised if they had been there when he showed up. “Don’t worry about me,” he assured the younger male, smiling at Jared as he laced their fingers together. “I’ve got this in the bag.” With that, Jensen walked into the main living area where everyone was sitting and waiting for them, making sure to keep Jared close and their hands intertwined as if they were completely infatuated with each other. “Hi everyone,” he greeted with a wide, charismatic smile. “I’m Jensen.”

Jared didn’t know for sure, but he would have almost guessed that every eye in the room was on Jensen and every eye in the room liked what they were seeing. Hell, Jared was pretty sure even Sandy was checking him out and men weren’t really her type anymore. Megan was nearly falling out of her seat and even Chad, Misha and Jeff seemed to be intrigued with Jensen. “Um…sorry they’re all staring at you,” Jared apologized, frowning at his friends and siblings. “They don’t get out much, as you can see.” He waited a few beats for everyone to snap themselves out of their almost trance-like states, though when that didn’t happen, he hissed, “Guys!”

That seemed to work fortunately, Jared rolling his eyes as everyone just acted like they hadn’t been staring at Jensen like he was some sort of Greek God. And really, if Jared was looking at him in that kind of way, Jensen did kind of look like a God; all perfectly shaped and so damn pretty that it was almost illegal. But Jared wasn’t going to think like that because he had to keep his eyes on the prize. He had to focus on why he was doing this and the reward he was going to be getting when this was all over; he had to focus on Tom. “Sorry,” he apologized again, giving his head a small shake as a light blush came to his cheeks.

When Jared blushed, Jensen thought he was going to lose it right there; Jared was so damn adorable and Jensen was pretty sure the younger male didn’t even know it. Maybe that was part of what made him adorable. After all, Jensen had been around some people who were adorable and they knew they were adorable, which caused their egos to become inflated and it just made them unattractive; Danneel was definitely one of those people. And her friend Genevieve was another one, though Jensen had never been able to see the adorable side to her; probably because he couldn’t get past the first layer, which was all bitch. “It’s all right, I don’t mind,” Jensen assured the younger male, giving Jared a small shrug.  
They all spent the next two and half hours just talking, everyone getting to know Jensen a little better and Jensen easily lying about how he and Jared had met. Jared wasn’t such a great liar, so he was leaving it to Jensen for the most part. Then again, it wasn’t all a lie, not really; he and Jensen had met at the restaurant where Tom broke up with him and they’d hatched this little scheme out right there. Sure, they weren’t really dating, but that was the only real lie to be told here. Still, Jared felt more comfortable letting Jensen handle the questions.

Because there had been no seating left, Jensen and Jared had plopped down on the floor and when Harley and Sadie came into the room, Jared had been a little worried. Fortunately, there was nothing to be worried about because both dogs – even Sadie who only gave her stamp of approval to certain people – liked Jensen and were loving all over him and begging for attention. So far, everything seemed to be going well and Jared was pretty damn happy about it because lately everything in his life seemed to have been going so wrong. Jensen didn’t even mind when Harley licked his face and got dog slobber all over him; he really took it like a champ which was more that Jared could say about some of his friends even. Of course, when Jeff and Megan threatened to hurt Jensen if he broke Jared’s heart, the younger male was a little worried, though Jensen handled that very well also, telling Megan and Jeff that he wasn’t going to hurt Jared in any way. Jared nearly believed him when he told his siblings that he would never in a million years hurt Jared and he knew the extent of Jensen’s words was a damn lie! Jensen was definitely good at selling himself that was for sure.

Once everyone was gone, Jared and Jensen climbed into Jensen’s pickup truck and were on their way to the restaurant to have dinner and meet Jensen’s friends. The whole way there, Jared was having trouble keeping his eyes off Jensen for more than a few minutes. Unfortunately, Jensen noticed, frowning at the younger male as he asked, “What? Do I have something on my face?” They had grabbed a snack at Jared’s place and Jensen hadn’t checked to make sure he didn’t have cookie on his face, so there was a chance Jared was staring at him because of that.

“No, nothing like that,” Jared assured Jensen with a shake of his head. “It’s just…you were kind of amazing back there. I mean, the way you handled yourself and got everyone to love you like that. Even Sadie, and she doesn’t really love anyone at first sight like that; you have to be pretty special to get Sadie’s stamp of approval, trust me.” Really, the way Jensen had won over the crowd like that kind of reminded him of Tom; he had been really good at wooing people as well, though Harley and Sadie had never really liked him all that much. Actually, that had been how Tom got Jared to date him. Well, that and his persistence; he’d showed up at Jared’s place of employment in the beginning with roses every day until Jared agreed to go out with him. But he could tell that there was something different about the way Jensen won over the crowd; he just couldn’t put his finger on what the difference was just yet.

A wide smile came to Jensen’s lips at Jared’s compliment, the older male giving Jared a small shrug as he explained, “Yeah well it’s not like you’re a hard person to be around. I mean, I feel like I can be myself around you and the same goes for the people you hang out with; they all seem really cool, so I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that. As long as you like my friends we should be able to get along really well. And I think this plan is coming along quite nicely.” Smiling, he added, “And as far as Sadie goes, I have a lot of practice with Icarus, so I know how to get dogs to love me.”

Tossing his head back, Jared laughed at Jensen’s explanation, giving his head a small shake. “Yeah, if you say so. Just wait until you actually hang out with them for a while; I don’t think you’ll still have that opinion. Why do you think they’re always at my house? They sometimes come off as forward and rude so they have trouble holding down friends. Really, sometimes I wonder why I even hang out with them.” For the most part, his friends were great, but there were times that they were a little too much to handle and Jared had to tell them to leave him alone. But at the end of the day, Jared loved his friends more than anything, so he couldn’t really complain. 

The sound of Jensen’s laughter was the only answer Jared got to his little rant, the younger male noticing that he was smiling again. He couldn’t remember smiling so much in two days in a really long time and he was really enjoying it. For the first year with Tom, Jared had smiled a lot but lately, he had been frowning more than smiling and really hadn’t noticed it until just now. Being with Jensen was really making him see all of the flaws that others were talking about in his relationship with Tom. Of course, it didn’t change anything; he still wanted to be with Tom and that’s why he was doing this.

This time when Jared got his dinner, he actually spent the time to taste it and really savor it. After all, the last time he had been here, he had gotten his food to go because of the breakup and his dogs had been the ones to indulge in the food because he had been too upset to eat it. Now he was kind of regretting that decision because the food was absolutely delicious; the chicken was cooked to perfection and the mashed potatoes were so creamy with absolutely no lumps in them. He was sure this was going to cost a pretty penny, but it was so worth it. “This is so good,” Jared all but moaned, taking a bite of his broccoli, his eyes closing in pleasure as he savored the taste.

Another smile came to Jensen’s face as he watched Jared eat, really enjoying being with the younger male and watching every expression that crossed his features at the new flavors Jared tasted. “Yeah, you can thank the cook later when you meet him,” Jensen chuckled, digging into his own food. “Mike will be happy to know that you enjoyed the food as much as you did.” He got a big spoonful of potato soup onto his spoon before he offered, “Here, you have to taste this; best potato soup in town, believe me.”

Without really giving it much thought, Jensen leaned in closer to Jared and fed him the soup, smiling once again when Jared moaned in ecstasy. “I know, right? It’s awesome isn’t it?” At Jared’s nod, Jensen’s smile widened as he leaned back in his seat, taking a bite of the soup himself. “Just wait until dessert if you think this is good,” Jensen explained. “Mike makes the most perfect apple pie you have ever tasted. I can’t wait to watch you enjoy it.” He didn’t realize how awkward that sounded until it came out of his mouth, the older male frowning slightly as he gave his head a small shake. “I mean…that came out a lot weirder than I meant for it to. I just meant that you make the most adorable faces when you taste the food and I like to watch your pleasure come through your expressions.”

It was a little weird to know that Jensen was watching him while he ate, but Jared found that he kind of liked it. “I know what you meant,” Jared assured Jensen with a small nod. “And I don’t think you’re weird. I like to watch your expressions too. I mean, you’re not as into it as I am because you probably eat here a lot because of your friends, but it still shows. It’s kind of cute actually. I mean that in the manliest way possible, of course.” Smiling, Jared washed down the last bite of broccoli with a swig of his red wine.

Christian brought out dessert a few minutes later, clearing Jensen and Jared’s plates before quickly slipping back into the kitchen once more. “Okay, so the guy is gorgeous,” he explained to his boyfriend as he watched him cook. “And I can tell that Jen really likes him too. I mean, they’ve only been spending time together for a day and a half and already Jared has made Jensen so much happier than Kerr ever had.” Snorting out a disgusted chuckle, Christian added, “I’m just glad the jerk is gone. Jensen deserves so much better and he can do so much better. Clearly, seeing as how Jared is sitting out there with him enjoying one of your delicious meals and a slice of your amazing apple pie.”

“Well, I know that,” Steve assured Christian. “If Jensen had been dating a boulder, it would have made him happier than Kerr did. That guy was just a pity date for Jensen and we both know it. Now he can go off and make Jared’s ex-boyfriend miserable because that man was a moron too. I mean, who yells at Jeffrey like that?! Especially after he already took care of the bill?! And poor Alona; he made the poor little thing cry he was such a dick to her.” Very delicately flipping the chicken breast he was cooking, he added, “If you ask me, this is going to be good for Jensen. And I don’t know Jared very well yet, but I have a feeling this is going to be good for him too.”

**~~**

At 11:30 PM, everything was cleaned up and the restaurant was ready to be closed up for the night, the guests having all left about twenty minutes ago. Now, it was time for Jared to meet Jensen’s friends and the younger male was really nervous. He wasn’t really sure why he was so anxious, but he supposed it had something to do with his need to be liked by people; especially people who would be around Jensen a lot, which meant they would probably be around Jared a lot too when he was with Jensen. Besides, Jensen liked Jared’s friends, so it would make everything easier if Jared liked Jensen’s friends in turn.

Thankfully, they were all a blast, Jared quickly feeling like he was already part of the gang as he sipped at the beer they had given him. Turns out, Jensen’s family actually owned the restaurant, so they’d gotten their meals put on the tab and Jensen’s family would handle it later. Jared felt a little bad not paying for his meal, but Jeffrey had insisted, so Jared didn’t want to argue with him and make him angry before he had a chance to get the man to like him; after all, Jeffrey was a friend of the family’s, so it was important that he liked Jared also.

They didn’t spend as much time talking as Jensen and Jared’s friends because it was so late, but they made plans to hang out when the restaurant was closed for the upcoming Christmas holiday. Jensen also informed Jared that he was allowed to invite his friends to hang out with them because they were all going to have to meet eventually and get along with each other if they wanted to keep this hoax up and running. 

Due to their introductions and casual hanging out, Jared didn’t make it home until after one o’clock that morning again, the younger male smiling at Jensen as he pushed the door to the pickup truck open so he could climb out. “Is this going to be a regular thing with you and me?” he asked as he leaned into the truck. “Getting me home after midnight? Because I don’t think my sister is going to appreciate it if I look like death warmed over when I show up for work. I mean, I don’t have to work with the customers, but she’s all about image.”

Shaking his head, Jensen answered, “No, I don’t think it will be. I’ll try to have you home at a decent hour from now on. I mean, I wouldn’t want your sister to be mad at me or anything.” Smiling, Jensen leaned back in his seat, taking a few more minutes to just stare at Jared, memorizing everything he could about the younger male. “Well, you should get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can hang out, all right?” At Jared’s nod, Jensen smiled, waving at the younger male after Jared closed the door and waved to him. Like last night, he waited until Jared was inside before he pulled away and headed back to his own house.


	4. Chapter Four

It wasn’t hard to tell that Jared had something on his mind as they sat and watched the movie that they’d found on television; and Jensen was pretty sure that Jared wasn’t thinking too deeply about the movie _Aliens_. So, that meant there was something else on his mind and Jensen wanted to know what it was. After all, he and Jared had been faking this relationship for a few weeks now and Jensen was getting to know Jared’s expressions pretty well. That’s kind of what happened when you basically lived in the other person’s back pocket, he supposed. Sighing, he muted the television and turned towards Jared, head tilting to the side as he stared at the younger male. “What’s wrong Jay?” he asked, making sure to watch every little facial expression the younger male gave. “You seem a little distracted. Want to talk to me about it?”

Slowly, Jared shook his head, turning his attention to Jensen as he gave him a small smile. “Nothing’s wrong,” he assured the older male. “I just…am thinking about something.” Biting into his bottom lip, Jared tried to think of the words to say in order to get his point across. After all, his parents wanted to meet Jensen on Friday and it was already late Wednesday night, so Jensen kind of had to know about this little plan; no matter how much Jared didn’t want to tell him because he was worried about how Jensen would react. “Remember how I told you Megan and Jeff were going to have dinner with my parents a few days ago?” he started, nodding when Jensen did so. “Well…Megan kind of told them that I was dating someone new and they want to meet you; on Friday.”

Although it was really soon to be meeting families, Jensen had no problem with it actually. His parents wanted to meet Jared too, but he had told them to wait a little while to give Jared time to get adjusted and everything. But he was more than happy to meet Jared’s parents, knowing that the younger male didn’t really speak to them after the incident with Tom. Actually, he was glad to know that he might be able to help Jared reconcile with his family, knowing that without his family, Jensen would definitely be lost. “Okay,” he smiled, giving Jared a small nod. “Friday I guess we have plans to go meet the parents then, huh?”

“You mean you’re not freaked out that they want to meet you or anything?” Jared asked, a small frown of confusion on his lips. When he had told Tom his parents wanted to meet him, he had freaked out and thrown a tantrum; and that had been after a few months of dating. Finally, he met them and they ended up hating him and everything had gone downhill from there. In the back of his mind, he was kind of hoping they liked Jensen because it would be nice to have his parents back, even for a little while until he started dating Tom again. He and his family had always been very close and not having them around for the past few years had been really hard on Jared. “You really want to meet them?”

Smiling, Jensen answered, “I really want to meet them.” It was nice to see that Jared seemed so pleased with that, Jensen having had that inkling that Jared missed his folks and now he was going to get to see them because of Jensen; it really made him feel good. “Well, since we’re meeting families and everything, my parents wanted to meet you too. I told them to cool it for a while because I didn’t want to push you, though. If you want to meet them, we can do that.” He wasn’t going to push Jared into anything, even if he said no; he was vowing not to get mad at Jared if he said no either. After all, it wasn’t like they were really dating, so Jared didn’t have to meet his parents. It would have been nice though.

A small smile came to Jared’s lips when Jensen explained that his family wanted to meet him too, the younger male feeling a little better about his parents being so pushy now that he knew Jensen’s parents were interested in him too. “Yeah, I want to meet them,” he assured Jensen. “When did they want to meet me?” Jared was fine with as early tomorrow, knowing that he had no plans now that he was alone. When he wasn’t with Jensen, Jared basically curled up on the couch with his dogs and watched television. He really wasn’t sure how many more re-runs of _Law and Order_ he could handle.

He hadn’t thought Jared was going to take that so well, Jensen giving the younger male a small smile to let him know how damn happy he was about this. “All right,” he nodded, biting into his bottom lip. “Well, they’re never busy so we can go whenever you want to. I think they’re all going to be at the house tomorrow if you want to go then. But…I mean, if that’s too early, then I can call them and let them know when you want to drop by so they’re all together again.” Getting them all in the same house at the same time these days was kind of a task, the Ackles children all having spouses to be around and jobs to get to. But he knew that his siblings wanted to meet Jared, so he needed to make sure they were all there at the same time. Otherwise, he would never hear the end of it.

Maybe he was being a little too forward and he exclaimed, “Tomorrow works for me. I mean…if it’s okay with you. We can see your family tomorrow and then we can see mine on Friday if you want to. I mean…I’m really looking forward to meeting them.” He knew how weird it sounded, but he was a family oriented kind of guy and after not seeing his parents for so long, he was kind of starved for the kind of affection only a family could give.

Again, Jensen smiled, nodding in answer. “All right then. I’ll call them tomorrow morning and let them know we’ll be over. Any preference as to what time you want to get there?” He knew his family was going to be there all day so they wouldn’t mind when he and Jared dropped in. Of course, they would want them to stay for dinner, so they had to get there before five o’clock. Other than that, he wasn’t really sure what they had in mind, but he was pretty sure whatever it was Jared was going to love it. After all, his opinion may have been biased, but he thought his family was pretty awesome to be around and they weren’t amateurs in the kitchen either.

Jared shrugged in answer, not really caring when they stopped in. “I’m free all day because Megan is doing some renovations to the shop so I don’t have to work. Whenever you’re ready is fine with me.” Megan always renovated the shop, so Jared had a lot of time off, but his sister paid him for it, so it wasn’t like he had to worry about the money. After all, Megan still got an allowance from their parents, so she didn’t care if Jared didn’t show up at all because she would pay him anyway; he was the only Padalecki child who didn’t get money from their parents because they didn’t speak and Megan felt really bad for him because of it.

“Okay, so I’ll just ask them when they want us and let you know tomorrow,” Jensen offered, his smile still firmly in place. It made him feel really good that Jared wanted to meet his family; almost as though they were really dating. He wouldn’t have a problem actually dating Jared that was for sure. The kid was hot, he was smart, compassionate, adorable, and he clearly was a family man; everything Jensen ever wanted in a partner. Of course, Jensen wasn’t going to mention anything because he knew Jared was only with him to get his ex-boyfriend back and he was fine with that; it had been his plan after all.

Another smile came to Jared’s lips as he nodded. “Okay, that sounds good to me.” He felt a thrill of excitement run up his spine as he settled back into the couch, the weight of the meeting with his parents off his chest for the time being. Of course, he knew as soon as Friday came, the weight would be there again, but it was nice not to think about it right now. Instead, he stole the remote from Jensen and unmuted the television, getting back into the movie; it was only on for another twenty minutes or so, but he’d seen it before so it wasn’t too hard to follow along.

**~~**

The sound of his cell phone ringing caused Jared to groan as he peeked his head out from behind the shower curtain. He had a feeling it was Jensen, so he knew he couldn’t just let it ring, the younger male quickly grabbing his towel and wrapping it around himself as he wiped the little bit of shampoo off his forehead so it wouldn’t slide down further and get into his eyes. “Hello?” he answered, smiling when he heard Jensen’s voice on the other line.

As soon as Jared answered, Jensen smiled widely, glad that the younger male still seemed interested enough in him to answer the phone. “Hey Jay,” he greeted, climbing into his pickup truck and closing the door behind him. “I called my parents and they want us over there at noon so they have time to get to know you before dinner; that’s what my mom said anyway.” Chuckling, he shook his head. “I doubt they’ll form an opinion on you before dinner though; probably before dessert is when they’ll have their verdict.” Licking his lips, Jensen added, “So I’m in my car on my way to you. Are you going to be ready soon?”

Biting into his bottom lip, Jared answered, “Definely soon. I’m in the shower right now but I should be out in about five minutes, and then I have to get dressed.” He hadn’t thought they’d want to get together so early, figuring that if they were going to have dinner together, they would get there around three o’clock. Not that he was complaining; if he didn’t like Jensen’s family, he could always request to bow out early, make up some sort of excuse as to why he had to leave. Of course, he wasn’t worried about that; something told him that he was going to love them. 

When Jared said that he was in the shower, Jensen’s mind instantly started forming pictures of how the younger male looked with just a towel slung over his hips. He wasn’t doing it on purpose, knowing that it would probably never happen, but he just couldn’t help where his mind went sometimes. “Okay,” he smiled. “Well, I’ll let myself in if you’re still getting ready and I’ll be waiting for you on the couch. Sound like a plan?”

If it was anyone else that he had only known for a few weeks who offered to let themselves in, Jared would have flat out told them no way in Hell. But he felt like he had known Jensen for years, and he wasn’t worried that the older male was going to do anything while Jared wasn’t paying attention. “Yeah, that sounds great. Don’t even bother knocking, just come on in; you know where the spare key is.” Again, Jared wiped another trail of shampoo off his forehead, frowning up at his hair. “Well, I better get back to showering; I’ll see you when you get here. Bye!” Once Jensen said bye, Jared hung up the phone, throwing his towel over the metal rod hanging on the wall before climbing back into the shower.

Jensen made it to Jared’s house in about five minutes, the two of them not living that far away. Monday, Jared had even walked over because he was bored and knew that Jensen didn’t have plans that evening; they’d ordered a pizza and spent the night playing _Guitar Hero_. It had been the most fun Jensen had since the first year he and Kerr had been together. “Jared?” Jensen called once he was in the house, closing the door behind himself as he walked further into the kitchen, stopping in his tracks when he got to the entryway of the living room.

The younger male was standing there with his shirt off moving around pillows on the couch as though he was looking for something. When he saw that Jensen was standing there, he quickly straightened up, cheeks flushing slightly as he tried to cover himself subtly, the dog toy he’d been looking for flopping around behind his back as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Hey,” he greeted, smiling at the older male. “Sadie lost her favorite toy and she wouldn’t let me get my shirt on unless I found it for her, so I’ll be out in a second.” As he walked past Sadie, Jared pat her on the head before calling out to Jensen, “You can grab a drink and make yourself comfortable. I’ll be out soon.”

True to his word, Jared walked out of his room a few minutes later, smiling when he saw Jensen, Harley and Sadie rolling around on the floor playing with the toy Sadie had lost a few hours earlier. He leaned against the wall and just watched them for a moment, chuckling when Harley licked Jensen’s face and got dog slobber all over his cheek. Of course, his chuckle got him noticed, Jensen giving each of the dogs a scratch behind the ear and a pat on the head before he pushed himself to his feet, wiping off his face. “Are you ready to go?” he asked as he fished his keys out of his pocket.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Jared assured the other male, pushing away from the wall before he followed Jensen out of the house and to the truck, patting each of his dogs on the head as he passed them. “So, they’re not gonna try to quiz me on how well I know you, right?” Jared asked, having gone over the notes he took at least three times, but not sure if he was ready for a quiz just yet. He knew almost all of it by heart, but he wasn’t quite sure about a few of the things and he didn’t want to look like an ass in front of Jensen’s parents.

A small chuckle escaped Jensen at Jared’s question, the older male giving his head a small shake. “No, I don’t think you have to worry about that,” he assured Jared. “I mean, they’ll ask you things like how long we’ve been dating though they already know the answer to that and if you really like me, but that’s not really anything major.” Starting the car, he continued, “They’re not going to quiz you about my life because they already know everything about me that they could possibly want to know. I’m their son, so they should know everything about me anyway.” It was easy to see that Jared was nervous, so Jensen placed his hand on the younger male’s shoulder. “Hey, calm down, Jay; just relax,” he coaxed. “This isn’t a test. And if you just be yourself, I know they’re going to love you.”

Hearing Jensen give him that confidence boost made Jared feel so much better, the younger male giving Jensen a small smile. “Okay,” he smiled, nodding slightly to let Jensen know he was feeling a little better and he was ready to do this. Jensen’s family, from what Jensen had told him, was pretty down to Earth and almost exactly like Jensen, so Jared was going to be fine; after all, Jensen seemed to like him, so his family would too. At least that’s what Jared was hoping as they pulled out of his driveway and headed towards Jensen’s parents’ house.

It was easy to see that Jensen’s family wasn’t hard up for cash just by looking at their house; it was true the Ackles family didn’t like to flaunt their wealth, but it was also plain as day that they spent a pretty penny on this house and all of the things inside it. Of course, money didn’t intimidate Jared because he also came from wealth, the younger male complimenting the women on how nice they looked and complimenting Mrs. Ackles on how lovely her home was. That seemed to get him brownie points right away, leading Jared to believe that this was going to be a lot easier than he thought.

Turns out, Jensen’s family were very big on playing games – board games, card games, video games – it didn’t matter as long as there was a game involved. Mackenzie, Jensen’s younger sister suggested that they play _Truth or Dare_ and it was Jared’s turn to pick one or the other. Truth was a little scary to him because he was still worried about them asking questions about Jensen, so he was leaning more towards dare. Then again, dare also had potential to be scary because he didn’t know these people very well and he didn’t want to end up licking dirt off the bottom of someone’s shoe or something gross like that. Finally, Jared answered, “Dare.”

In all honesty, Mackenzie had been looking for Jared to say truth, the young male not really looking like a risk taker to her. But, he had proved her wrong, which was interesting in itself. “Okay…” she started, eyes ticking towards the ceiling as she thought about what she wanted to dare Jared to do. “I dare you to reenact yours and Jensen’s first kiss in front of all of us. Unless it was too fresh, then you can just kiss him for a couple seconds and spare us the gooey details.”

“Hey, there was nothing gooey about our first kiss,” Jensen argued, knowing what his sister was referring to and giving her a small glare. He had been fourteen when he got his first kiss and the chick had been really hot. So, he was a little worked up and to make a long story short, he came in his jeans. It was embarrassing and he wanted to forget it ever happened, but Mackenzie and Josh were determined to make sure he remembered it as long as he lived. Of course, he and Jared hadn’t really kissed yet since they weren’t actually dating so Jensen wasn’t sure if the younger male was going to follow through with the dare.

Jared hadn’t been expecting the dare to kiss Jensen, not sure if it was appropriate or not because it would make him feel like he was cheating on Tom although he knew that was crazy. Then again, Jensen was on his team for the game as well as his mother Donna, his brother’s girlfriend Katie, and his sister’s boyfriend Richard, so Jared didn’t want to let them down. “All right,” he mumbled, licking his lips as he turned more towards Jensen in his seat. “Do you remember how it was, babe?” he asked, basically looking to Jensen to take the lead here. Being with Tom, Jared had learned how to follow instead of take charge and it wasn’t just something that you got over in less than a month.

When Jared asked him if he remembered how their first kiss was, Jensen gave the younger male a small smile. “Of course I remember how it was baby,” he assured Jared, licking his own lips as he waited for Jared to lean in and make the first move. Of course, he could see it in Jared’s eyes that he wasn’t about do that, so Jensen reached forward and cupped the back of Jared’s head, fingers fisting in the younger male’s shaggy hair as he pulled Jared closer, lips crushing against the younger male’s. His tongue traced the seam of Jared’s lips, begging for entrance, which he was granted after a little bit of hesitation. 

Because they were in front of his family, Jensen didn’t want to get too fresh as Mackenzie had put it, so he pulled back, breaths panting out slightly as he smiled at Jared. Kissing Jared had been exactly like Jensen had pictured it; fucking awesome! He could only hope that Jared thought the same about the way he had kissed him and in the future, for purposes only to make Tom and Kerr jealous of course, they would be kissing a lot more. “Are you satisfied Mack?” Jensen asked as he turned his attention back to his family, noticing that everyone was staring at him and Jared with a sense of adoration Oh yeah, so much better than when he was with Kerr.

After the game of _Truth or Dare_ ended, Jared and Jensen’s team reigning victorious, Donna had dinner on the table and everyone sat down to eat. The conversation was light during the meal though the silences weren’t strained like they had been when Jensen was with Kerr; actually, everyone seemed to be getting along rather swimmingly. The Ackles family had already grown quite fond of Jared and was about ready to adopt the kid as one of their own. Of course, they didn’t want to mention anything because they were worried they’d push Jensen and Jared too close together too soon and the two would break up because of it.  
For dessert, Donna had made apple pie, which she served with ice cream and coffee. Again, the course was eaten in silence for the most part, a bit of light, casual conversation here and there just to break up the quiet. Jensen’s cell phone rang about ten minutes after dessert was served when everyone had gone into the living room, the older male excusing himself to take the call from Steve, knowing that it had to be important for the other male to be calling him right now when he knew that Jensen was at his parents’ house with Jared. 

The call only lasted a few minutes, Jensen coming into the room once he ended the call and explaining, “Well, it’s be fun and everything guys, but Jared and I have to run out now. We have that party to get to baby, and we don’t want to be late.” Thankfully, Jared got the hint that Mike had just called and informed him of a party Kerr and Tom were going to be at so they had to show, the younger male getting off the couch where he had been lounging and giving everyone a hug before he made his way over to Jensen. “Bye guys; and don’t worry, I’ll make sure to have him over here again soon.”

With that, Jensen took Jared’s hand and led him out of the house, opening the pickup truck door for him before he climbed into the driver’s seat. When he got into the truck however, the look on Jared’s face had him stopping dead in his tracks. “Hey, what’s wrong, Jay?” He didn’t give it much thought as he reached over and cupped the younger male’s cheek, gently turning his head so he could look into Jared’s open, champagne hazel pools.

Slowly, Jared shook his head, not really wanting to be a buzz kill to this perfect evening. But he could tell Jensen wasn’t going to let this go because the older male wasn’t letting him look away, Jared sniffling softly as he explained, “Your family is so nice and welcoming. I think they really liked me.” The look on Jensen’s face let Jared know the older male didn’t really understand what the problem with that was, so he continued, “I miss being like that with my family, Jen. When I was dating Tom, they told me to choose between them or him and I chose him.” Giving his head a small shake, he added, “I just miss being able to sit down with my parents and laugh and joke like we were doing in there.”

Frowning, Jensen pulled Jared into an embrace, his hand rubbing up and down the middle of Jared’s back. “Shh…it’s okay,” he whispered, eyes closing slightly when Jared wrapped his arms around him in return and pressed his face into Jensen’s neck, taking all of the comfort Jensen was offering to him. “We’re going to go to your parents’ house tomorrow night and this is exactly how it’s going to be. If they had a problem with Tom, then they’re going to be thrilled that you’re not with him anymore and everything is going to be just like it was before you had your fight, okay?”

When Jensen put it like that, it made a lot more sense to Jared, the younger male giving a small nod to let Jensen know he believed him. “Okay,” he mumbled, slowly pulling away from Jensen. It had felt nice to be held like that, feeling the older male just pouring all of the comfort he could into the embrace in an attempt to make Jared feel better. Tom had never really done that for him, instead telling Jared that he needed to suck it up and be a man. “I really hope you’re right about this, Jensen.”

“So do I,” Jensen smiled, shoving the keys into the ignition and starting the engine. “All right, we’re gonna head to Steve and Christian’s place real quick and then we’re headed to Danneel’s place to crash her party.” He knew that Danneel still wanted him, so he was going to throw it in her face that he had Jared now as much as he was throwing it in Tom and Kerr’s faces. Sure, they were still kind of friends, but Danneel was a little annoying sometimes, so it was nice to piss her off as far as Jensen was concerned. Really, he was going to have way more fun with this than he should have, but he was all right with that. After all, what was the point of being with Jared, even pretending to be with Jared, if he wasn’t allowed to show him off? Jared was fucking hot and Jensen was proud to have him on his arm! And in all honesty, he couldn’t wait to see the look on Kerr’s face when he showed up to this party with Jared; it was going to be the highlight of his evening and Jensen knew it.


	5. Chapter Five

A small frown came to Christian’s lips as he answered the door to Jensen and Jared, giving his head a small shake as Jared walked past him in that damn hoodie. For someone as sexy as Jared, he sure as hell didn’t know how to flaunt it. Quickly, he grabbed a shirt from one of the bags sitting on his table and tossed it to Jared. “Here, put this on. Trust me when I tell you, it’ll be so much more flattering than that damn hoodie you always wear.” Biting into his lip as he looked at Jensen, Christian added, “I mean, not that you don’t look good in the hoodie because you do look really cute. It’s just for this party we’re looking to make you hot, not cute.”

When Christian walked into his room to get the rest of the bags he had full of clothes for Jensen and Jared, Jensen stepped up behind Jared and whispered into the younger male’s ear, “I think you look pretty hot in your hoodies.” He knew that it might have been a little too forward, but he was fine with that. Jared was sexy in whatever he wore as far as Jensen was concerned and he wasn’t going to let the younger male sit there and wonder if he was only hot in tight fitting clothes or if he was hot in everything he wore. Jensen was going to let Jared know he was hot no matter what he was dressed in.

Jared smiled when Jensen told him that he looked hot in his hoodies, knowing that Jensen was probably only saying that to make him feel better, but it worked nonetheless. “Thanks,” he smiled, cheeks flushing a soft pink as he held up the shirt Christian had given him to wear. The thing looked like it was about a size and a half smaller than all of his other clothes and he wasn’t sure he wanted to wear it. “Um…Jen, don’t you think this is going to be a little…form fitting?” Normally, Jared liked to buy his clothes big; he wasn’t one to show off his body because on more than one occasion, Tom had made fun of him about his body, telling Jared that he was too muscular and that it was disgusting, so now Jared’s self-confidence level was about a two, if that.

“Well…yeah, but Jared don’t worry about it,” Jensen answered, smiling at the younger male as he stripped out of his own shirt, grabbing the other shirt from the bag and pulling it over his head. “You’re going to look great; trust me.” Smirking, he asked, “Can I be honest with you, Jared?” At the younger male’s nod, Jensen explained, “I saw you without your shirt on earlier today and I was thinking about zits and old people just to stop myself from having to change my jeans.” He realized the moment Jared got what he was trying to say, the younger male blushing a deep shade of red as he bit into his bottom lip, unable to hide the small smile that was forming on his lips at the compliment.

Moments later, Christian came out of his room with the bags hanging from both his arms. “All right, the bags on the left are Jensen’s clothes and the bags on the right are Jared’s clothes. Remember to use the accessories guys and I want to see both of you before you leave in case something needs to be changed.” He was pretty confident about the clothes he had picked out for the two men, but he knew that Jensen was a dud when it came to accessorizing and judging by how Jared usually dressed, he had a feeling the younger male was going to be attempting to stretch out the clothes he’d bought for him, which would have been a really bad thing. Baggy clothes made Jared look okay, but as Christian had explained earlier, they wanted him to look hot, not just okay, and not cute.

It didn’t take long for the guys to change, Jensen coming out of the room first wearing a pair of slightly baggy, dark blue jeans and a simple black T-shirt which hugged him in all the right places, yet at the same time gave him room to breathe. Christian wasted no time shoving a bracelet composed of skulls over Jensen’s right wrist and a silver band onto his right ring finger, taking in the dog tags Jensen always wore around his neck before hiding them under Jensen’s T-shirt, leaving on the chain showing in the back. “Perfect,” Christian muttered to himself, looking Jensen up and down as he admired his work. Frowning, he then asked, “Where’s Jared? Jared?! Come on out here; it doesn’t take that long to change!”

Slowly, Jared emerged from the room he had been changing in, frowning down at his clothes as he fidgeted with the hem of the T-shirt he was wearing. “I think it’s a little too tight,” Jared mumbled, frown deepening when Christian slapped his hands away from the T-shirt, scolding him for trying to stretch the fabric. Jared was definitely not comfortable in this and he was sure there was no way he would be able to handle this all night long. Well, he figured the party would last a long time at least, even if it wasn’t all night, and he was almost positive he couldn’t go like this. He just didn’t feel comfortable and he felt like everyone was going to be staring at him, or something.

“This looks really good on you,” Christian assured Jared, giving the younger male a small smile before he turned his attention to Jensen. “Well, the two of you are ready to go,” he dismissed. “Call us tomorrow and let us know how it goes, okay Jen? And Jared, I will see you sometime soon I would hope. Have fun tonight guys!” Christian all but shoved them out the door once he wished them a fun night, sighing as he turned back towards Steve, smiling at his lover. “So, how did I do? Didn’t he look good? I knew there was a hottie in there underneath all of those clothes!”

Smiling, Steve assured Christian, “You did excellent, lover. Now c’mere and give your boyfriend some attention since you’ve been ignoring him all night.” Steve wasn’t jealous, per se, but he didn’t like it when he was sitting in the room and Christian was focusing all of his attention on someone else. After all, Steve was his boyfriend and he thought he deserved a certain amount of attention for that; sue him for wanting to spend time with his lover. The last boyfriend he’d had really reminded him of Kerr and he loved how different Christian was from the little worm. It was also a relief that Jensen was now done with Kerr because Steve wasn’t sure how much more of that he could have taken.

**~~**

A smile smirk came to Jensen’s face as he looked over at Jared in the passenger seat, shaking his head slightly. “Will you quit playing with your shirt?” Jensen chuckled, cutting the truck’s engine once he’d parked it. “You look fine; better than fine Jared, you look great. Hell, you look better than great even; you’re…sexy.” Smiling wider, Jensen added, “I might have to keep my eyes on you all night because I’m a little worried that if I step away for even a second, someone might come and try to snatch you up.”

As Jensen gave him all of the compliments, Jared shook his head, chuckling when Jensen told him that he was sexy. “Don’t get crazy Jensen,” he warned, giving his head another small shake. “I feel like some kind of moron who’s trying to show off his muscles to impress the ladies.” Biting into his bottom lip, Jared looked into the back seat, eyes landing on his hoodie; however, as he started to reach for it, Jensen grabbed his hand, giving his head a small shake, letting Jared know that he wasn’t going to let him grab that hoodie.

It was hard to see the look of almost pure sadness on Jared’s face when he grabbed him and stopped him from getting his hoodie, but Jensen knew he had to be strong. If he caved and let Jared wear that hoodie into the party, he would have to worry about Christian tearing him a new one and he just didn’t have the patience for that. Besides, Jared looked hot and Jensen wanted to be selfish and stare at him all night so the hoodie had to stay in the car. “Don’t worry Jared,” he muttered as he climbed out of the car, heading over to Jared’s side and opening the door for him. “If you don’t want to stay long, we won’t. But I think you’re going to have a good time tonight and part of that will be because of the outfit.” Smile widening, Jensen added, “And we’re going to get to throw it in their faces that we’re together now and all they have is each other.”

The last part was probably the best thing Jensen had said since he got out of the car, Jared knowing that there was no way in Hell this outfit was going to help him have a good time. He hated the thing already and he hadn’t even shown it off to anyone except Christian, Jensen, and Steve. He wanted to tell Jensen that he didn’t want to go in there and he just wanted to go home, but Jared knew that the whole point of his and Jensen’s plan was staring him in the face right now and he wasn’t willing to back down without a fight.

As soon as they entered the house, the hostess came to greet them, Danneel handing both Jensen and Jared a beer. “How nice of you to drop by Jen,” Danneel cooed in the older male’s ear. “Just couldn’t stay away from me, huh?” She had a feeling Jensen wasn’t here for her, but she could dream. Ever since their break up, Danneel had been trying to find someone as amazing as Jensen, but it was so hard; they really didn’t make them like Jensen Ackles anymore.

Jensen chuckled softly when Danneel suggested that he’d come to the party to see her. It was a nice theory he supposed, though it was completely false. “Don’t flatter yourself Danni,” he smiled, giving his head a small shake. “I’m here to show off Jared and be the man with all of the jealousy pointed at me tonight because I’m taking him home and no one else is.” Smiling wider, Jensen pressed his hand to the small of Jared’s back and started walking away. “Maybe you should go hang out with Mike for a while.”

“I take it that was your ex-girlfriend Danneel?” Jared asked, biting into his bottom lip as he eyed the beer she’d given him. He didn’t know these people all that well and if she really was as jealous and desperate to get Jensen back as the older male had explained a few days ago, Jared wasn’t sure he wanted to take the chance on this beer. Of course, Jared could understand why Danneel was so upset; losing Jensen had to have been hard on its own, but then to find out that Jensen was dating a man as his first relationship after the break-up? Jared supposed that had to sting a bit.

The nod from the older male was the only thing Jared received in answer, Jensen seeming to not want to talk about it at the moment. “Don’t worry about her, Jared,” Jensen explained, giving his head a small shake. “She’s harmless.” He had seen the way Jared was eyeing his beer and Jensen wanted the younger male to have a good time, so that had to include drinks. Especially since Kerr and Tom were leaning against the far wall hugging and making googly eyes at each other. Maybe he needed to grab Jared another beer before they started this, just in case the younger male needed a little liquid courage.

Quickly, before Tom and Kerr could spot them, Jensen grabbed Jared and steered him off in the opposite direction. They needed to regroup and form a plan before they walked over there and just flaunted that they were together. “I saw them,” Jensen explained when Jared looked at him in confusion. “They’re over there by that wall beside the television. Don’t look!” He knew Jared had been about to look and if Tom and Kerr happened to see Jared looking, then Tom would probably catch on to the fact that Jared was still infatuated with him; it was all in the eyes. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do here,” Jensen continued, biting into his bottom lip; it may have been a good idea to think of this before they came here, it now occurred to Jensen.

In all honesty, Jared was about as lost as Jensen was, if not more so. “I don’t know,” he answered, giving his head a small shake. “I mean, all we have to do is pretend that we’re in love right? Act like they both did us a favor when they dumped us because now we have each other?” Jared wasn’t sure how far he was willing to go to sell this plan, but he knew that if they had to kiss or something, he was fine with that. Actually, much to his surprise, Jared was kind of looking forward to kissing Jensen again; after the kiss at Jensen’s parents’ house, he was craving a little more.

Nodding, Jensen answered, “All right, that sounds like a plan.” He wasn’t quite sure how they were going to bump into one another, but he was going to make it look as real as possible. Maybe he would just lead Jared to the couch and have a full on make-out session in front of their ex’s; he was positive that would get their attention. Then again, he didn’t want to push his luck with Jared and make him think Jensen was trying to take more than he was being given. Quickly, Jensen snatched the beer out of Jared’s hands and gave him a small nudge towards the living room. “Go in there and wait for me to bring you a drink,” Jensen instructed. “Don’t make contact unless they see you first, Jay.”

His instructions were simple enough, Jared giving a small nod to let Jensen know he would do as he was told before he headed into the living room. Jensen hadn’t told him where to stand or much of anything really, so Jared took a seat on the couch since there were no other partygoers occupying it. With as many parties as Tom had forced him to go to, Jared wasn’t the type to actually mingle and be social; really, he hated almost everyone who lived this lifestyle because they were mostly alcoholics or druggies looking for their next fix. Then again, this was a smaller party setting so the people here were completely different from the partiers who hit the clubs.

After only a few minutes, Jensen walked into the living room, both his and Jared’s beer in hand. “Jared!” he called, knowing that it would get both Tom and Kerr’s attention; and of course, he was right, the older male hiding the smirk on his lips when their former lovers turned their attention to the two of them. “Got your drink, baby,” Jensen smiled as he sank down onto the couch with Jared, handing him the beer before he cupped the back of Jared’s head and pulled him into a soft, sweet kiss. It was brief, but it got Tom and Kerr’s attention nonetheless. 

Before either of the men could do much more of anything, Tom and Kerr were making their way to the couch, acting like they were in love and happy with their decision, but Jensen knew Kerr almost better than he knew himself and the other male looked like he had just been forced to eat a Brussels sprout. “Jensen, I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight,” Kerr cooed, smiling down at the older male and giving him a look that suggested flirting, though not doing it outright in front of Tom. “It’s nice to see you and your…friend here.”

“Yeah, Jared, I didn’t know you knew the waiter who spilled that soup all over my two thousand dollar suit personally,” Tom piped in, eyes shifting from Jared to Jensen and then back. It was very clear that he wasn’t pleased with whatever was going on here; they had only been broken up for a few days and Jared was already with another man?! Sure, he was with Kerr, but it was different for Jared to have a new beau. Tom was most definitely not happy about this.

A small smirk came to Jensen’s face when Tom spoke, giving a small nod. “Well, you know Jared and I didn’t know each other until the next day when I called to tell him he left his wallet at the restaurant. We got to talking and it was an instant attraction.” Smiling, Jensen placed his hand over Jared’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. “We knew we had to act on it right then and we’ve been hanging out together almost every second since.” Really, that wasn’t a lie; he and Jared had been spending an awful lot of time together since they started this whole thing. Hell, Jared had a key to Jensen’s apartment and Jensen had permission to just use the spare key and walk into Jared’s apartment whenever he pleased.

Although Jared knew it was a lie, he was instantly roped in by Jensen’s performance. The older male had a certain charm to him and Jared loved it when he really got to see Jensen work people over using his charm. “So, from what Jared tells me,” Jensen continued, “you two used to go steady. For about five years, right?” When Tom nodded, Jensen smiled, turning his attention back to Jared as he cupped the side of the younger male’s face, fingers playing softly in Jared’s lush hair. “Thanks for breaking up with him; you really did me a favor. Oh, and thank you too Kerr for breaking it off with me. I mean, if I’d have been with you the night Jared came into the restaurant to pick up his wallet, I wouldn’t have asked him to go out with me. You really did me a favor.”

Jared smiled when Jensen thanked Tom and Kerr for what they did, knowing just by the looks on their faces that Jensen was really pissing them off. “Yeah, thanks guys,” he added. “If it hadn’t been for the two of you cheating on us behind our backs and pretending you were ‘working late,’ Jensen and I would have missed our shot.” He made sure to give them both wide smiles, dimples denting his cheeks as he turned his attention back to Jensen and gripped the front of the older male’s T-shirt gently, pulling Jensen in for another kiss, this time making it last longer, adding a little tongue before pulling back, smiling at Jensen.

Chuckling, Tom insulted, “Yeah, well it figures you would start dating the waiter. He’s probably the only thing you could get after me. And no offense, but you’ve stepped down about twenty steps with this guy.” When Kerr didn’t seem to laugh at that, Tom frowned, wondering why no one thought his insult was funny; he thought it had been hilarious.

When Tom made fun of Jensen for being a waiter, Jared frowned, about to tell Tom the truth about what Jensen really did, though the older male beat him to it. “Actually Tom, I’m not a waiter; I’m a musician. I play the guitar and sing with a buddy of mine every Monday and Wednesday night at this club downtown.” Smiling, Jensen added, “My parents own that restaurant and they asked me if I could come in and help them out because Genevieve called off again; I accepted and that’s why I was there.”

Once Jensen told him why he was there, Tom’s eyes ticked over to Kerr who gave a small nod to let Tom know that Jensen wasn’t lying, a light blush forming on Tom’s cheeks because now he looked like an ass. “Well, isn’t that nice?” Tom asked, smiling at the two men on the couch. “We better get going, honey; there’s that thing we have tomorrow at work and we don’t want to stay out too late and mess it up.” Turning his attention back to Jensen and Jared as he wrapped his arm around Kerr’s waist, Tom said, “It was really nice to see you both. Good night.”

With that, Tom led Kerr out of the room and out the door, leaving Jensen and Jared to bask in the afterglow of their victory. “Did you see how mad they were?” Jensen asked, chuckling softly as he relaxed back against the couch, taking a sip of his beer. “And the look on Tom’s face when I told him that my parents owned that restaurant was priceless! I don’t think he’ll be back to eat there for a while.” Not that Jensen minded; the restaurant didn’t need that kind of clientele and his friends sure as hell didn’t have to deal with assholes like Tom Welling when they were trying to get through the night.

“I’m sure he’s real broken up about it too,” Jared smiled, relaxing back on the couch much like Jensen had done. “That’s Tom’s favorite restaurant. Well, as long as someone else is paying, anyway.” He never really realized just how much of a cheapskate Tom really was, Jared wondering why he had put up with that the way he did; love made you do crazy things he supposed. Smiling, he gazed at Jensen. “You were amazing just then,” he complimented, very impressed with Jensen’s performance in front of Tom and Kerr. 

The compliment made Jensen smile, glad that he had sold the performance so well. “Thanks, you were pretty damn good yourself,” Jensen replied. “And you look really good in that shirt.” He knew that Jared was uncomfortable in the clothing Christian gave him, but he had to admit that the younger male looked good. Jensen was definitely going to try to get Jared to wear more form-fitting clothes because he looked so hot. “I think I saw Tom drooling a little when he was looking at you. Giving me the stink eye because I have you now and he doesn’t.”

Again, Jared smiled, a small blush stealing over his features when Jensen told him that he looked good. “You think so?” Jared asked, his smile widening when Jensen nodded. “It’s not really what I’m used to,” he mumbled, starting to cross his arms over his chest before he stopped. If Jensen liked him in these clothes, then he was going to flaunt it for the older male. After all, he rather liked it when Jensen looked at him. 

“Maybe you should get used to it,” Jensen suggested with a small smile, eyes raking over Jared’s form. “You’re…hot,” he breathed. Okay, he was getting ahead of himself; he and Jared weren’t actually dating and he was already picturing them going back to his place and having sex. Hell, they didn’t even need to have sex; he would have been happy with them just lying in the bed together. But he had a feeling it would never happen; Jared wouldn’t get over Tom as far as Jensen could tell so there was no future for them. “Come on Jay, let’s get going.”

**~~**

A small frown came to Kerr’s lips as he listened to Tom complaining about Jared being with someone else for the third time since they left the party. “Look, I’m not too happy about your ex dating my ex either okay, but there’s nothing we can really do about it now can we?” Kerr snapped, rolling his eyes as he pulled the blankets over his naked lower half. When Tom and Jared had been together, the sex had been good, but now that he knew Jared was with Jensen, all Tom talked about while they were having sex was how Jensen didn’t deserve Jared. 

Hearing Kerr ask if there was anything they could do about it now, Tom gave a small, devious smirk. “That’s not exactly true,” Tom smiled, giving his head a small shake. “We can break them up. They don’t belong together and it’s obvious; we’d be doing them a favor!” Sure, he wasn’t sure if they could do it because Jensen and Jared had seemed really into each other, but they were going to try as long as Kerr was on board.

If he hadn’t been so pissed off at the moment, he probably would have disagreed because he and Jensen had been having problems for a long time before they broke up, but he kind of did still love the other male. If there was a chance he could get Jensen back, mainly all of Jensen’s connections that he never used to their full potential, but he was on board. “All right; let’s do it.”


	6. Chapter Six

“Calm down Jared,” Jensen coaxed, giving his head a small shake as he climbed out of his truck. “Everything’s gonna be fine. They’re going to love me and you’re going to finally have your family back.” He was confident enough in his charm to tell Jared these things because everything had to work out. It was clear that Jared needed his family in his life and Jensen was determined to make that happen. But if Jared didn’t have confidence in this, then Jensen knew it was going to be harder to make it work. After everything they’d been through in the last week though, Jensen wished that Jared would lighten up and trust him.

Jared wanted to believe Jensen, but his nerves were getting the best of him it seemed. His parents had been a huge part of his life before Tom, but that had been three and a half years ago and Jared was worried that he didn’t know how to handle being around his folks now. “I can’t calm down,” he apologized, giving his head a small shake as he bit his thumb nail. “I don’t even know how to act around them anymore. Everything seems so complicated and I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Sighing, Jensen opened the door for Jared, leaning into the truck a little so he could get closer to Jared. “It’s going to be fine,” he repeated, his hand taking hold of Jared’s and pulling it away from his mouth. “Biting your nails is bad for your teeth, you know?” he teased. “At least that’s what Steve told me, anyway.” A small smile came to his lips when Jared smiled, the older male slowly pulling away from the truck, tugging on Jared’s hand to get him out of the truck as well. “If you want, we can have a safe word. Would that make you feel better? Like…you could say the safe word and then I could make up some kind of lame excuse to get us out of there. Do you want to do that?”

A safe word? Well, it definitely had potential that was sure. Slowly, Jared nodded, biting into his bottom lip. “O-Okay,” he mumbled, trying to think of something that wouldn’t come up in their casual conversation, yet something that would be able to be brought up without suspicion. “What about apples? Would-Would that work?” It seemed like something that could be brought up without suspicion, though not every day someone used the word apples in casual conversation.

When Jared suggested apples as the safe word, Jensen gave a small nod. “That works great,” he assured the younger male. Without giving it much thought, Jensen wrapped his arm around Jared’s waist, offering some sort of support for the younger male. After all, Jensen knew how nervous Jared was about this and if there was something he could do to help, then he was definitely going to give it a shot. It was why he was here in the first place; this was going to make Jared happy and Jensen wanted to be a part of that.

As Jensen knocked on the door, Jared felt his stomach turning; he was going to be sick. This whole thing was so damn stressful and he had no idea how this was going to pan out. Jensen seemed pretty confident though, which was a definite plus. Maybe Jensen could be confident enough for the both of them. The door opened slowly, revealing the housekeeper, Cindy, whom Jared smiled at. Some things never changed, he supposed, head nodding slightly in greeting to his old friend.

“Hello,” Cindy greeted, a wide smile on her lips. “Please come in. Mr. and Mrs. Padalecki will down in a few minutes,” she explained. “Make yourself at home; there are drinks in the lobby as well as snacks.” She offered to take their coats before she headed off into the kitchen, hanging their coats on her way there. She still had a dinner to prepare for and she knew that Gerald and Sharon hated it when their food wasn’t ready promptly at six o’clock. Cindy hadn’t been late with the meal since her first day here about eight years ago and she wasn’t going to start being late now.

Jensen allowed Jared to lead him through the house into the lobby, admiring some of the artwork the Padalecki’s had on their walls. He was going to have to compliment them on what they’d done with the place. After all, Jensen had been here when he was a kid before the Padalecki’s moved in and this place had been a real fixer-upper. When they took a seat, he smiled, relaxing back against the soft, plush couch. Oh yeah, he could definitely get used to coming over here for family visits and the like. But he was getting ahead of himself; this was probably going to be the first and last time he came here because he and Jared weren’t really together and he knew there was really no plans of a future for the two of them. Today however, he had to act like there was a chance of a future and show that he really cared for Jared.

True to Cindy’s word, the Padalecki’s walked into the lobby a few minutes later, a wide smile on both of their faces when they saw their son. As much as it had pained them to cut Jared out of their lives, they knew that when Jared came to his senses and finally got rid of Tom, the younger male would come back to them; they had been right. Both men stood when they entered the room and Sharon immediately moved towards her son and gave him a huge hug, her face pressed into the crook of Jared’s neck as she fought back her tears of joy. She had missed her son so much, some days she had begun to lose faith that Jared was ever going to break it off with Tom. But three and a half years later, she finally had her son back. As long as this new boyfriend of his was a nice guy whom they could put up with, there wasn’t going to be another problem.

Once she was able to compose herself again, Sharon pulled back, hands cupping each side of her son’s cheeks. “You look well,” she smiled, glad that her son had taken care of himself over the years. “How have you been? Please, have a seat; there’s so much we want to talk to you about. And of course, we want to meet your new beau and get to know him as well.” When both men took a seat, Sharon reached out a petite hand towards Jensen. “I’m Sharon Padalecki,” she introduced, smiling when Jensen took her hand in his own.

“Jensen Ackles,” he greeted, giving the woman’s hand a brief kiss. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” It was clear just by looking around that the Padalecki’s were a lot more formal than Jensen’s family, so he didn’t want to screw this up. And judging by the looks on Sharon and Gerald’s faces, Jensen was doing a pretty damn good job so far. “You both have a lovely home. I really love what you’ve done with the place.”

A small smile came to Gerald’s face when he saw his wife light up with joy at the compliment; this man was definitely already ten times better than Tom had been. “Ackles?” Gerald asked, frowning in slight confusion. “Any relation to Donna and Allan Ackles?” When Jensen nodded and let him know that he was their son, Gerald smiled widely, giving a small chuckle. “I know your parents; they’re partners in my business. Any clients they feel are looking for something they can’t provide, your parents send them to my wife and I.” He just made the stamp of approval on Jensen just because of his parents, which Jared instantly recognized, the younger male relaxing a bit more.

In all of his years, Jared had never seen his parents get so into the small talk as they were doing right now; Jensen was really keeping them on the edge of their seats and Jared was loving every minute of it. When he had been with Tom, his parents seemed bored and upset all of the time, but there was nothing but interest in their eyes right now. They didn’t even realize how late it was until Cindy came out and explained that dinner was ready, everyone slowly making their way to the dining room while they continued to speak with Jensen about his music career. 

Unlike Jared had been fearing, dinner went very well, his parents seeming to absolutely adore Jensen, which kind of impressed Jared. After all, his parents didn’t really warm up to many people, so he was definitely counting this as a success. However, before dessert, Jared thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest when his parents wanted to have a serious conversation with them; Jared knew from experience that these kinds of conversations never ended well. After all, the last time he and his parents had a serious conversation, it ended with Jared not speaking to his family for years.

Maybe this was going to be the point of the evening when Jared’s parents tried to tell him all about some wealthy, successful businessman and how it would be so much more beneficial for Jared to meet him and date him instead of Jensen. His parents were anything but subtle, after all. When he had been with Tom, his mother had openly discussed a possible meeting with Milo Ventimiglia because he would have been so much better for Jared right in front of Tom. Jared had declined of course, the young male completely devoted to his boyfriend, even if his parents hadn’t approved. He just hoped they weren’t going to do that now with Jensen here; he was under the impression this meeting was going very well, after all.

“Your mother and I were talking about this last night Jared and we want you to know that we are very pleased with your new beau,” Gerald explained, smiling widely at Jensen who returned his smile. “So, we’re going on a trip tin a few weeks down to the Caribbean and we would love for you both to come. The rest of the family will be there and Jensen, feel free to invite your family as well; everything is already taken care of and we would really love for you two to be there with us.”

When they were invited to join his family on an all-expense paid trip to the Caribbean, Jared was too shocked to form words. Everything was happening so fast and Jared was just getting a little overwhelmed. After all, if someone had come up to him yesterday and told him that his parents would be asking him to join the family on a trip, he probably would have admitted them into a psychiatric hospital himself without question because that was just crazy. But here he was now and it was happening, so he needed a moment to process everything.

Before he could open his mouth to speak, Jensen answered, “We would love to join you, right baby?” At Jared’s nod, everyone in the room smiled, Jensen’s hand moving to rest over Jared’s in some form of comfort, seeing that the younger male was having a hard time believing this. All in all, Jensen was pretty pleased with this meeting; he had gotten Jared to reconcile with his family and he could tell just by looking at the younger male that Jared was happy. After all, as far as Jensen was concerned, a person’s family was the most important thing in the world, so he felt pretty good about himself right now.

After dessert, everyone moved back to the living room and made small talk for the better part of an hour. Although everyone else was drinking, Jensen wasn’t, knowing that he was the driver for the evening. Jared on the other hand was knocking drinks back like there was no tomorrow, Jensen actually getting a little concerned for the younger male. Finally, about five drinks later, Jensen cut Jared off, explaining to the Padalecki’s that it was getting late and he had to wake up early the next morning. Of course, it wasn’t exactly true, but he needed to get Jared out of there before he got so drunk he couldn’t move. And he remembered the younger male mentioning something about having trouble holding his liquor in their Q&A session, so this was for the best.

Once he had Jared out of the house, Jensen helped him into the truck, honestly a little worried to take the younger male home when he was so drunk. “So, do you want to stay at my house tonight?” Jensen offered, glancing over at Jared who seemed to be staring at him like he was the most amazing thing since the invention of cell phones. “I just mean, you seem a little out of it and I don’t think I could sleep tonight knowing that I took you home and left you there alone.”

Smiling like a goofball, Jared nodded, letting Jensen know that he’d stay at his house this evening. He had never been away from his dogs all night, but he supposed he could make an exception just this once; after all, he’d had quite a few drinks and he was already starting to feel the effects of the alcohol. Besides, he could call Sandy and ask to babysit for him; she did owe him a favor since he’d gotten her floor seats to a concert she had wanted to go to. Surely, he was going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, but it had been worth it. All of the events that had happened in the last few days were just so overwhelming and nearly unbelievable that there was no way Jared would have been able to handle it sober. Not for very much longer, at least.

As soon as Jensen pulled into the driveway, Jared tried to climb out of the car, Jensen quickly jumping out of his own seat and moving to help Jared, catching him just in time so he wouldn’t fall on his ass. “Whoa, careful there Jay,” Jensen chuckled, wrapping his arm around the younger male’s waist as he swung Jared’s arm across his shoulders, supporting the younger male’s weight. A small frown came to his lips when he realized that Steve and Christian were in his house, wondering what they could possibly want at this hour. Just because they were night owls didn’t mean everyone was.

Jensen didn’t even have time to question his friends before he was bombarded by the two of them, both men chattering excitedly before all of the noise just suddenly stopped. “Uh, what are you doing with Jared?” Steve asked, waving back at the younger male when Jared gave him an inebriated wave. “Jensen, please tell me you didn’t get him drunk and then bring him back here so you could take advantage of him!”

“What?!” Jensen exclaimed, frowning at his friend. “No, I didn’t do that! Why would you even think that’s something I’d do?!” He loved his friends, but sometimes they were just a little too much to handle; especially Steve because he really spoke his mind and he definitely wasn’t afraid to be nosey, either. “Jared and I were just at his parents’ place and he drank a little too much. I didn’t feel right taking him home and leaving him alone, so I brought him back here.” Rolling his eyes, Jensen concluded, “See? All very innocent.”

A small smile came to Steve’s face when Jensen had his little episode, the older male having just been teasing Jensen; he knew his friend would never take advantage of anyone. Jensen was too good of a person for that. “Dude, calm down; I was only kidding.” Chuckling as he gave his head a small shake, Steve explained, “Well, now that we’re over that, Chris and I have some news for…well you, since Jared seems to be a little out of it right now.” At Jensen’s nod, Steve suggested, “Maybe you want to get Jared to bed before we talk? I mean, he looks ready to pass out.”

When Steve told him it might be a good idea to put Jared to bed before they had this conversation, Jensen nodded. The kid wasn’t light after all; a lightweight when it came to drinking sure, but he was heavy as hell. Slowly, Jensen made his way to the bedroom where he planned on letting Jared sleep it off, gently lowering the younger male down onto the mattress and throwing the thin sheet over his body. He would have taken Jared’s jeans off for him, but he thought that would have been a little forward, so he left them on. “Just gonna get your boots off and then you can sleep, okay?” he explained, moving to get one of Jared’s boots off then the other once that task was done. “I’ll be in to check on you later if you need anything. Night Jay.”

He had a wide smile on his lips as he walked out of the room, closing the door almost completely on his way out. If Jared needed something then Jensen wanted to make sure he could hear him, which is why he left it cracked open just a little. “All right, so what’s this about?” he asked Christian and Steve, taking a moment to glance at the clock. “And why couldn’t it wait until morning?” It was after two in the morning, so if Jensen seemed a little irritable, it was because he kind of was a little bit irritable.

Quickly, Christian explained, “Steve and I have heard from reliable sources that Tom and Kerr are going to be at the exclusive club _Aqua_ tomorrow night!” He could barely hold back his excitement as he gave Jensen the news. “Now, it’s a member’s only club, but seeing as how you’re the son of Donna and Allan Ackles, I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting in. My sources tell me that Kerr and Tom will arrive between the hours of eight and midnight, so I want you there at midnight. It’s gonna be a late one again tomorrow Jen, so please get some sleep so you can look hot tomorrow. And tell Jared to do the same when he’s done puking his brains out tomorrow, ‘kay?”

Before Jensen had a chance to answer, he was grabbed from behind, his assailant turning him around and planting his lips on Jensen’s, the older male giving a surprised moan, which allowed his attacker’s tongue to slip into his mouth. The kiss was sloppy and tasted like alcohol, but it was so damn good at the same time. Of course, he knew that he couldn’t allow this to continue, Jensen not willing to take advantage of Jared while he was in this condition. It took all he had to push Jared away, but he knew that he would feel better in the long run. “Jared, what are you doing?” he asked, breaths panting out slightly as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that he had just pushed Jared away from him when he wanted nothing more than to pull him close and never let go. “I thought you were sleeping.”

“So good to me,” Jared mumbled, smiling at the older male. “Thought you deserved a reward for how you were treating me.” His smile widened as he surged forward once more, though this time Jensen was ready for it, head turning to the side so Jared kissed his cheek instead. Groaning in frustration, Jared complained, “Come on Jen, quit it. Let me kiss you.” Again, Jared tried, but Jensen stopped him, Jared finally giving up and settling on just staring at Jensen. “You’re pretty,” he chuckled, fingers moving to touch Jensen’s full lips, pulling the bottom one down slightly when he moved his fingers.

Jensen wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be angry when Jared told him he was pretty, the older male instead deciding to just move his face so Jared couldn’t touch him anymore. “Jay c’mon,” he mumbled, trying to move the younger male so he could get him back to bed. “You don’t really want this; you’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re doing.” He could see that Christian and Steve were holding back their laughter, giving both his friends a warning glare to let them know they were to keep their mouths shut about this as he led Jared back to the bedroom and tucked him in again. “Now get some sleep; for real this time, okay?”

At Jared’s nod, Jensen smiled, fingers running through the younger male’s hair softly for a brief moment before he headed back out into the living room, this time closing the door the whole way so he would be able to hear it if Jared got up again. “Don’t say a word,” he warned, pointing at Steve in particular since Christian had seemed to get the message from the way Jensen had been looking at him earlier. “Now, how do I contact the owner of the club to see about getting in tomorrow night?”

Though Jensen had warned him not to speak, there was no way Steve was letting this slide. Of course, he wasn’t going to say anything about the way Jared had kissed him; he was more hung up on the fact that Jensen was totally and completely in love with Jared already. Not that Steve was surprised; Jensen had always fallen hard and fast. “Dude, you’ve totally fallen for Jared!” he exclaimed, a wide smile on his lips. “I approve, by the way; Jared is definitely so much better than that gold-digging idiot you were dating before. Oh, this is so exciting!” He was practically bouncing with his excitement as Steve babbled, “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Alona! She’s going to be so happy! And I’m sure your parents are going to be thrilled too since this means you won’t be going back to Kerr.”

It was pretty obvious that Jensen was getting annoyed, Christian quickly slapping his hand over his lover’s mouth to silence him. “Well, someone’s getting ahead of themselves,” he chuckled, giving Steve a look that screamed for him to quit while he was ahead. “So back to your question; here’s Charisma’s card and she’s there from opening to close either working or partying, so just give her a call whenever. Like now if you want to. I mean, the sooner you get in the better, right?” Smiling, he grabbed Steve’s arm and started tugging his boyfriend to the door. “We’ll be back tomorrow around eleven to make sure you and Jared look presentable. Try not to have too much fun without us.”

With that, Christian dragged Steve out of the house, leaving Jensen alone to deal with everything that needed prepared for tomorrow night. Sighing, he pulled out his phone, dialing the number on the card Christian had handed him. The phone was answered on the third ring, a woman’s voice asking how she could help him. “Hi, this is Jensen Ackles; is this Charisma Carpenter?” When the woman confirmed her identity, Jensen smiled, working his charm as he explained, “I was hoping to get into the club tomorrow. Sources tell me there’s a pretty high end party going on and I am the life of the party. Only problem is, I’m not a member of the club. Any way we could make an exception for me and my boyfriend?”

Although Charisma didn’t usually give favors, she was willing to make an exception for Jensen Ackles. She had heard of his parents’ work and she knew that if she was in their good graces, they would owe her; she liked having people in her debt. “Well Jensen, I don’t usually make exceptions for people,” she explained, a small smile coming to her lips. “But I suppose I could waive that little detail just this once. When you get here tomorrow, tell Cliff that I invited you and your lover personally and he’ll let you right in. I’ll be here all night, so I expect a visit.”

A wide smile came to Jensen’s lips when Charisma gave him the okay to show up, Jensen feeling even more accomplished than he had when he helped Jared and his family through their problems. “You will definitely get a visit from us,” he assured the woman, thanking her for her help before he hung up the phone. Once that was done, Jensen grabbed Icarus’s ball and played with the little hyper ball of fluff for a few minutes before he turned on the television and settled down into the couch, knowing that he was going to be sore tomorrow for sleeping here, but it was a necessity since Jared was in his bed. He wasn’t going to worry about it now though; it was better to have Jared here and not have to worry about him while he was drunk than have him at his house alone with Jensen worrying all night and not getting any sleep.

“Icarus, come here boy,” Jensen called, patting his knee to coax the pooch onto the couch with him. “Come watch TV with Daddy.” When Icarus climbed onto the couch with him, Jensen smiled, petting his pooch behind the ears. “Good boy, Icarus,” he praised, scooting down on the couch so he was lying instead of sitting. “What do you wanna watch? Sports recaps? Yeah, that sounds good to me, too.”

**~~**

Tom rolled his eyes as he listened to Kerr bitching at him again. He didn’t want to hear this because he knew that it was true and he didn’t want to believe it. “Ever since you figured out that Jensen and Jared were together, it’s all I’ve heard! ‘Jensen doesn’t deserve Jared and Jared should be with me or no one’. Well guess what Tom, you’re with me! You gave Jared up when you decided that you wanted to go exclusive with me, so get over it!” Ever since they’d gotten together and had been spending every waking moment with each other, they had been doing nothing but fighting. Really, the only thing they could agree on was wanting to break Jensen and Jared up so they could get back together with them and Kerr was really starting to get pissed off about it. “I’m honestly starting to regret ever breaking up with Jensen and getting with you!”

Frowning, Tom hollered back, “Yeah well so am I! Which is why we need to get with the program and break Jensen and Jared up once and for all.” Angrily, Tom moved to the bed, crawling under the covers as he flicked off the lamp on his side of the bed. “Just remember that we have that club to go to tomorrow. There are people who are expecting us there and I’m not going to let them down just because we’re having a spat. We’ll discuss this further in the morning; right now I’m tired and I just want to go to sleep. Make sure that if you stay up, you’re quiet about it.”

The only answer Tom received was the sound of their bedroom door slamming shut as Kerr disappeared into the living room. Jared would have never treated him this way; he’d had Jared trained not to do so. When the time finally came to have Jared back at his side, Tom knew he was going to be so much happier. Of course, in public he couldn’t express that because he and Kerr were the _it_ couple around here; so they had to push aside their pride and just act like they were happy. Especially now that their ex’s were dating because those two seemed genuinely happy, which just wouldn’t do in Tom’s opinion. But he and Kerr were going to remedy the situation soon enough, Tom was sure of it.


	7. Chapter Seven

The first thing Jared realized when he woke up was that this wasn’t his bed, the younger male giving a small frown as he pushed himself to a seated position. He didn’t remember much of anything about last night, but he was pretty sure that Jensen had brought him back to his apartment, which explained why he didn’t recognize the ceiling as his own. Drinks were another thing he remembered; lots and lots of drinks. And…lips?

Suddenly, Jared pushed himself out of the bed, nearly falling over in the process when he remembered that he had kissed Jensen last night. God, what had he been thinking?! Jensen didn’t want him like that! He was such a damn idiot; now Jensen probably thought he was some kind of freak who went around and randomly kissed men while he was drunk; like a damn whore, or something! Of course, Jared was no such thing and he wanted to set Jensen straight on that right now, which meant he was going to have to apologize to the older male for his behavior the night before. It wasn’t going to be pretty and he was sure that he was going to be embarrassed, but he owed it to Jensen to apologize.

He made his way out of the room and smiled when he saw Jensen sleeping on the couch; the older male was really quite attractive and Jared kind of wished they were really dating so that he could flaunt Jensen around to his friends and really feel like they were an item; like Jensen was all his. But he knew that he wanted to be with Tom, so it wasn’t fair for him to take advantage of Jensen’s kindness; even if Jensen was a lot more caring and he gave Jared a lot more attention than Tom ever had. Okay, so maybe Tom had been a crappy boyfriend, but Jared hadn’t really seen it at the time; being with Jensen was kind of pulling the wool off his eyes and Jared wasn’t sure if he was happy about that or not. Though, it was probably for the best he supposed. After all, if he didn’t want to get back with Tom, he should figure it out soon before his and Jensen’s plan actually started to work.

But right now, he did want to get back with Tom and he wasn’t thinking about Jensen and his adorable smile or his plush lips or that rocking hot body of his anymore. Icarus helped with that when he jumped out from under the covers and started barking happily at Jared, the little dog jumping off the bed and running to dance around Jared’s feet as he begged for attention. Of course, if Jared had known that Icarus was going to cause such a ruckus, he would have stopped him, the little pooch waking up Jensen in his haste to get to Jared. “Morning,” Jensen replied groggily when he saw that Jared was out of bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Good,” Jared smiled, slowly moving towards Jensen a little more as he scooped Icarus into his arms. “My head hurts a little, but other than that, I’m good.” He didn’t really want to get into details about how if he moved too fast, he thought he was going to vomit, not really wanting to burden Jensen with that right now. It was bad enough that he needed to apologize for his little mishap yesterday before he had all but passed out. “So, um…” Jared started, taking a seat beside Jensen on the couch. “I just wanted to apologize for last night. I didn’t mean to…you know, kiss you like that. Sometimes, I get a little crazy when I drink and –” 

Before Jared could finish his sentence, Jensen quieted him, giving his head a small shake though he instantly regret the decision when the tense muscles in his neck pulled and ached. Yeah, sleeping on the couch hadn’t been such a good idea, he supposed because now he was all stiff and achy. But he couldn’t let Jared sleep on the couch and he didn’t have a spare bed, so this was the only option. “Don’t worry about it Jared,” he chuckled. “I know when I’m drunk, I can get pretty crazy too.” That was why he didn’t drink too often. “And it wasn’t like kissing you was such a bad thing. I mean, if I’m being honest with you, I actually enjoy kissing you. I’d do it more often if I didn’t think you’d mind.” Biting into his bottom lip as he searched Jared’s face, Jensen asked, “Would you mind?”

Although he knew this was all temporary and as soon as Tom was ready to take him back, Jared would be going, Jensen wanted to milk this relationship for all it was worth until that happened. And Jared’s lips were just so tempting; looking at them made Jensen want to kiss and suck on them until they were swollen and red, which was something in itself because he had never felt that way before. Not even with Kerr and at first, Jensen had been convinced that Kerr was the one he was going to marry. Clearly, he knew differently now, but that wasn’t the point.

When Jensen asked if he would mind if he kissed him, Jared gasped in a shocked breath, not thinking that Jensen would want something like that from him. “Um…n-no,” Jared answered with a small shake of his head. “I wouldn’t mind.” In all honesty, Jared _wanted_ Jensen to kiss him. He liked it when Jensen kissed him; he liked just being around Jensen and the older male had the most luscious lips of any man he had ever seen. So hell yes, Jared wanted Jensen to kiss him.

Smiling, Jensen leaned closer to Jared, one hand pressing against the back of the couch as his other hand moved to cup Jared’s cheek, his eyes ticking down to look at Jared’s lips briefly before he surged forward and captured Jared’s lips with his own. His tongue slowly traced the seam of Jared’s lips with his own before pressing inside once he was granted access. It was awesome to have the younger male like this right now, Jensen wishing they could go further, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. This was good though; good enough anyway. He was just happy to have Jared.

The kiss continued until both men were panting and out of breath, Jensen pulling back just slightly though he kept their foreheads touching. Once he caught his breath enough, he moved in to kiss Jared again, moaning deeply as the younger male instantly parted his lips in invitation, coaxing Jensen’s tongue into his mouth and tangling his own tongue around it. Unfortunately, this kiss was cut short when Jensen tried to move the wrong way and his neck ached, forcing him to pull back, hissing in pain.

Fear trickled down Jared’s spine when Jensen pulled away like that, wondering if he had done something wrong. He tried to play it off as a joke, but inside he was worried that this wasn’t going to happen again because he had blown this kiss. “I hope you’re not pulling away from the kiss because of something I did,” Jared chuckled, his nervousness showing through a tiny bit as he practically gnawed on his bottom lip, waiting for Jensen’s answer.

“No, not at all!” Jensen assured the younger male, wanting to shake his head again though he refrained. “Sleeping on the couch last night just made me all stiff and if I move a certain way, it hurts like hell. _Believe_ me, it had _nothing_ to do with you.” Jared was a great kisser; and even if he hadn’t been, Jensen probably still would have kissed him because he was hot and his lips were soft and they felt really good against Jensen’s lips.

When Jensen told him that he was stiff because he’d slept on the couch, Jared felt like a real dick for forcing Jensen out of his own bed. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, biting into his bottom lip once more. “I could give you a massage, if you wanted me to.” He had a little bit of experience in this area, so when Jensen nodded, Jared repositioned them so that he could reach Jensen’s neck, starting in on the stiff and tense muscles. “You know, Jensen, if you wanted to sleep in your bed, you could have,” Jared explained with a small frown. “I mean, I was out like a light so I wouldn’t have even noticed. And waking up next to you wouldn’t have been awful, or anything.”

As Jared continued to massage him, Jensen chuckled, “I’ll remember that for next time.” When Jared reached a particularly tight spot, Jensen moaned softly, clearly loving what the younger male was doing to him. “Mmm…that feels really good, Jay. Have you ever thought about doing this professionally?” Jared could really make a living out of it because he was so damn good at it; Jensen would absolutely be a recurring customer if Jared ever chose to make this a career.

A small chuckle escaped Jared when Jensen asked if he’d ever thought about making this a career, the younger male giving his head a small shake. “No, that’d be ridiculous,” Jared answered. “I’m not _that_ good at this.” Tom had always had a hissy fit when Jared gave him a massage because Jared never did it right, so there was no hope of a career as a masseuse in Jared’s future.

Shrugging, Jensen answered, “I think you’re pretty good at it.” He relaxed further into Jared’s talented fingers, giving another soft moan as the younger male worked out another particularly tight knot. “I know if I ever need a massage, I’m coming back to you. I’ve never had one this good.” Soft moans continued to spill from Jensen’s lips as Jared moved lower, working out the tension in Jensen’s back. After a few moments, Jensen was really getting into it, moans as well as a mantra of “Oh yeah, Jay; harder, c’mon,” spilling from his throat as his eyes fell closed and his head dropped back to rest against Jared’s shoulder.

“What’s going on in here?” Steve asked as he plopped down on the love seat, giving Jensen and Jared a small smile. “I hope we’re not interrupting anything.” He wrapped his arms around Christian lovingly before he tugged his lover down to sit on his lap. If it wasn’t for this exclusive party Jensen and Jared had to be at tonight, Steve would have offered to leave; but Christian would have had his oysters on a plate if he’d have done that. Sometimes, Steve was sure that Christian had missed his calling as a designer or hair stylist for the stars he was so into this shit.

Quickly, Jared pulled his hands away from Jensen, shooting up off the couch like he had been sitting in a pool of lava. “N-No!” Jared assured the older male, shaking his head. “J-Jensen was stiff because he slept on the couch last night and since it was my fault, I offered to give him a massage to get the tension out of his body. W-We weren’t doing anything else, so…yeah.”

Steve tried to hold back his laughter for Jared’s sake, knowing that the younger male was shy, but when Christian mumbled, “Oh, he’s stiff all right, but it has nothing to do with sleeping on the couch,” Steve lost it. He nearly had tears streaming down his cheeks as he laughed; however, when Jensen kicked both he and Christian in the shins, both stopped laughing very quickly.

Once Christian and Steve had calmed down, Jensen grabbed Jared’s wrist and pulled him down onto the couch beside him once more. He made sure to keep one arm around the back of the couch behind Jared so he could grab the younger male in case he tried to bolt again. Jensen wasn’t about to let these two goof balls scare Jared off prematurely. “How did you two even get in here?” he asked, knowing for a fact that he had locked the door last night before he’d lain down. “And what are you doing here so early?”

“We had a copy of your key made, duh,” Steve answered as if it was the simplest answer in the world. “And what do you mean early? It’s after two o’clock, Jen.” He had never known Jensen to sleep so late, but after the night he’d had with Jared last night, Steve wasn’t going to say anything to him. After all, Steve was one hundred percent in favor of this relationship and he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize it. Clearly, Jensen was really into Jared and if he was the cause of their demise, Steve would never forgive himself.

When he was told that Christian and Steve made a copy of his key, Jensen couldn’t even act surprised; it definitely sounded like something they would do and really Jensen didn’t mind, so he wasn’t going to make a big deal about it. “Oh, is it really?” he asked after he was informed that it was so late. Damn, he had a lot of things to do today and now he was off schedule; this wasn’t going to end well. But he would deal with it; he always did.

Before Steve could answer Jensen’s question, Christian piped up, “Yes, and we have _a lot_ of work to do before this party tonight and we’ve only got a few hours to do it. So, Jensen, you’re up first and then I’ll be coming back for you, Jared, so don’t go anywhere.” Quickly, he grabbed Jensen and pulled the younger male off in the direction of the bathroom, figuring the sooner they got to work the better it was going to be for all of them.

Unfortunately, Jared didn’t have a chance to ask Jensen about the party before Christian pulled him away so the younger male looked to Steve for answers. “There’s a party?” he asked, not sure if he was up for something like that this evening. He’d had a rough one last night and tonight he had planned on just relaxing on the couch with a bucket of popcorn, his dogs, and Jensen if the older male was interested, and watching a movie. Apparently, that plan was off the table tonight though.

Nodding, Steve explained, “Jensen got you into an exclusive club tonight where Kerr and Tom are going to be. I’m sure he’ll give you the details about it later, but it’s going to be awesome. And your ex is going to be so jealous when the two of you walk in. Christian is going to make the both of you look so hot and Tom is going to wish he had never broken up with you. Of course, you want all of your attention focused on Jensen though; just act like Tom isn’t there.” So maybe he was giving Jared bad advice for someone who wanted to be with his ex, but Steve didn’t care; he belonged with Jensen and that’s where Steve was determined to keep him. “It’s going to be a blast. And Christian and I want details.”

**~~**

It took nearly three hours to get Jensen and Jared the way he wanted them, mostly because Jared was arguing with him about the shirt he was trying to make him wear, but now he was finally done and the boys looked fabulous; they looked damn sexy! “All right, now don’t you worry about a thing Jensen; Steve and I are going to take care of Icarus and we want you to focus on having a good time. Make sure you really dance close to each other; practically have sex on that dance floor, do you hear me! Really rub it in their faces that you have each other now.”

A small chuckle worked its way out of Jensen when Christian told him to have sex with Jared on the dance floor, the older male giving his head a small shake. “I think we can handle it,” he assured his friend. “Try not to burn my house down while we’re gone. There are snacks in the kitchen and you guys have free reign of the house, so do whatever. Jared and I will be back late, so don’t wait up for us.” With that, Jensen took Jared’s hand and pulled the younger male out the door, holding the truck door open for him as Jared climbed in before he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. He had a few stops to make before they could get to this party and he wanted to take Jared out to dinner, so he wanted to get a move on.

First on the agenda was going to see his mother because he had promised that he’d be over. She had something she wanted to show him and Jensen was smart enough not to deny his mother that; Donna Ackles could have a very bad temper when she wanted to. Of course, when he got there, he kind of regretted the decision, wishing that he would have just been a man and dealt with his mother’s wrath later. “Mom, I don’t want to try on the swimming trunks right now,” Jensen complained with a small shake of his head. “Jared and I have a party to go to tonight and I don’t have time to be trying on clothes.”

He sighed when his mother insisted, explaining that the trunks were on sale and she only had twenty four hours before she lost her chance to take them back if they didn’t fit right. “Fine,” he groused, grabbing up the trunks and heading into the bathroom where he could change. It was better to just do as Donna asked rather than sit here and argue with her about it for ten minutes because he knew he was just going to end up doing it anyway in the end.

While Jensen was getting changed, Jared and Donna talked about the Caribbean trip, Donna asking if Jared was excited and if he had his trunks because there was a sale going on at her favorite store and she would be glad to pick him up a pair. Of course, Jared didn’t want Donna to waste her money on him, so he assured her that he already had trunks and then thanked her for the offer. Really, he did, but they probably weren’t the ones he was going to wear to the Caribbean; his parents probably bought him another pair because they bought Megan a new bikini the other day and Jared had just happened to get a phone call that same night. He had plans to go see his family tomorrow afternoon.

Before Donna and Jared could strike up another conversation, the bathroom door opened, Jensen stepping out and showing his mother the trunks. “There, are you happy now?” he asked, giving his head a small shake. He didn’t know why she needed to see them, but he wasn’t about to ask, that was for sure. “They fit fine; can I take them off now? Jared and I have reservations for dinner and I don’t want to late.” Of course, they were reservations to his family’s restaurant, but still; it was in bad taste to show up late to a reservation you made.

“Hmm…turn around, I want to see them from the back,” Donna answered, wanting to make sure her son looked his best for Jared and his family at the Caribbean. Jensen already had trunks she was sure, but these were the ones she was going to make her son wear on this trip; they fit perfectly and she could tell just by the look on Jared’s face that the younger male enjoyed the view. That was really all she needed to know, the older woman smiling, “All right honey, you can take them off now. Thanks pumpkin!”

Unbeknownst to Donna, Jared wasn’t staring at the trunks; he was staring at the tattoo of a roaring lion on Jensen’s left shoulder blade. Jared had never really been big on tattoos before, but this one on Jensen’s back was hot; it made Jared feel kind of tingly and his fingers were itching to touch it. Unfortunately, his view was gone much too quickly, the younger male snapping himself out of his almost trance-like state and coming back to reality. He was definitely going to make a point to touch that tattoo on this trip.

Once Jensen was dressed again, he hugged his mother before heading out to the truck again, holding the door open for Jared once more as the younger male climbed in. “All right, off to dinner,” Jensen smiled as he started the engine. He couldn’t help but notice that Jared was staring at him, the older male frowning slightly as he asked, “What?” As far as he knew, he hadn’t done anything stupid, but there had to be some reason Jared was staring at him, right?

When Jensen asked what he was staring at, Jared merely shook his head. “S’nothing,” he assured the older male. “It’s just…I didn’t know you had a tattoo.” He was pretty sure there were a lot of things about Jensen he didn’t know, but Jared was determined to figure them out. After all, Jensen was pretty damn awesome and the more Jared could learn about him, the better in the younger male’s opinion.

A small smile came to Jensen’s face when Jared mentioned his tattoo, the older male giving a small nod. “Yeah, I’ve got one,” he stated the obvious. “Drunken college moment. My parents weren’t really happy about it, but they eventually got over it. After they grounded me for a week and took away my credit cards, they got over it.” Of course, Jensen didn’t care about the credit cards now, but back then, he had been kind of a big spender; one of his friends had insisted that if he had the money, he needed to spend it and Jensen had believed him. He could thank that kid for the way he acted now, he supposed.

Fortunately, they made their reservations and ended up staying at the restaurant talking to Jeffrey and Alona until well after ten o’clock. It was an hour drive from the restaurant to the club, so Jensen knew they needed to get going in case of traffic, the older male saying good night to his friends before Jared did the same. They were in the car by ten forty five and they were at the club by midnight; right on schedule. He told Cliff that they were Charisma’s special guests and they were let right in, the older male making sure to keep Jared close to him as he moved through the crowd.

It didn’t take long to spot Tom and Kerr, Jensen pulling Jared a little closer to him as if just looking at Tom was going to make the younger male leave him. Over the last few weeks, Jensen had become a little possessive of Jared; not in a controlling way, of course, but he didn’t want Tom to get Jared back that was for sure. A dick head like Tom Welling didn’t deserve someone as awesome and caring and sweet as Jared; but Jensen couldn’t let Jared know that because he wasn’t about to ruin what they had right now. Besides, they had better things to do at this particular moment; like go see Charisma and thank her for the opportunity to be here.

A wide smile came to Charisma’s lips when she saw Jensen and Jared approaching her, the woman extending her arms to hug both men. “You two are even more adorable in person,” she smiled, pinching Jared’s cheek before she pat Jensen’s arm. “I have something for the two of you.” She then handed each of them a blue coin as she explained, “This will get you to the back room; only the most exclusive members get to go back there.”

“What’s in the back room?” Jared asked, cocking his head to the side in his confusion. He didn’t understand why someone would want to go into the back room because the party was clearly out here. Then again, he wasn’t the partying type, so he knew he had a lot to learn about this whole scene.

Smiling once more, Charisma explained, “It’s just somewhere for the guests to go in order to get away from the hustle of the party out here. You know, a little alone time to do…whatever.” She wasn’t blind to the whole thing; Charisma was very aware that when her guests went back there, more often than not, they were going to have sex. Actually, she’d had some beds put back there behind curtains for that very reason; she was very supportive of her customers, after all, and she aimed to please. “If you and Jensen want to head back, there are curtains back there for…you know, a little privacy and there’s a bell for waitresses in case you need drinks or anything.” Smiling, she patted both men on the arm before she exclaimed, “Have fun you two!”

With that, Charisma was headed over to another couple, leaving Jensen and Jared alone to digest everything they’d just been told. Jensen could tell by the look on Jared’s face that the younger male had absolutely no clue what people did in the back room and he thought the younger male was just adorable because of it. However, when he saw Jared was about to ask him a question, Jensen shook his head, taking Jared’s hand in his own as he suggested, “Come dance with me.”

He made sure to get a spot where Tom and Kerr could see them, though far enough away that Tom couldn’t try to cop a feel on Jared; the older male wasn’t willing to let Jared be touched by anyone other than him tonight, which meant he was going to have to keep a close eye on Jared. After all, the kid looked damn sexy and he knew he was going to have to practically beat people off with a stick this evening. Nevertheless, he was willing to do whatever it took to keep Jared away from the perverts who were cluttering up this club.

Once he found their spot, Jensen gripped Jared’s waist and pulled the younger male against him, gyrating his hips to the music and coaxing Jared to do the same. It was painfully obvious that Jared had never been to a club before so he didn’t know how to dance the way these people were dancing, but Jensen thought that just added to Jared’s adorable look. Besides, he could handle the dancing; all Jared had to do was move with him and they would be fine.

Suddenly, something caught his eye, Jensen giving a small smile when he noticed that Tom and Kerr also had a blue coin. This was definitely something he could use in his favor. “Jared,” the older male started, making sure to press up against the younger male further, whispering directly in Jared’s ear because the music was so loud, “let’s take that tour of the back room now, okay?” Before he gave Jared a chance to protest, Jensen tugged the younger male towards the curtains leading to the back, smiling slightly when he noticed Tom and Kerr watching them. Just to add to the show for the other men, Jensen pulled Jared in close and attacked the younger male’s lips, hands sliding down his back to squeeze his ass.

When Jensen squeezed his ass, Jared moaned softly in surprise, wondering what the hell had gotten into Jensen. He didn’t mind that the older male was all but groping him, though it was a little sudden. And after the way they had just been dancing, Jared wasn’t sure how to take this. “J-Jensen?” Jared asked, licking his lips as the older male pulled him further through the curtains and into the back before he led Jared through another set of curtains and pushed him down onto the bed.

“Did you see them out there watching us like we were the biggest pains in their necks?” Jensen asked, plopping down onto the bed with Jared, a wide smile on his lips. He wasn’t one to toot his own horn, but he was doing a fantastic job at keeping Tom and Kerr on the edge of their seats. Suddenly, he heard giggling, instantly recognizing it as Kerr; after spending three years with someone, you tend to know their laugh. “Shhh,” Jensen muttered as he pushed Jared down onto the bed further, forcing the younger male to lie down before he blanketed Jared’s body with his own and crushed his lips against Jared’s once more.

Everything happened so fast that Jared didn’t even have time to process much of anything before Jensen was on top of him and they were kissing like there was no tomorrow. In the back of his mind, it registered that Tom was here, Jared having heard him speaking to Kerr, but that didn’t matter to him right now; the only thing that he was focused on was Jensen lying on top of him. His hands moved to grip Jensen’s shoulders, right hand sliding down to touch the fabric over Jensen’s tattoo, causing a tingle to run through Jared’s body. “Mmm…” he moaned as Jensen slid his lips across his cheek before he moved to lavish attention to Jared’s neck. “Ungh…Jensen,” Jared mumbled as his fingers dug into the older male’s flesh, pulling Jensen in closer to him.

Jensen wasn’t exactly sure how he should take this, Jared not at all sounding like he was acting right now; and the hard length pressing against his thigh was just another added factor to Jared’s lack of acting at the moment. Of course, Jensen didn’t care if Jared wasn’t acting, but he didn’t think they should go that far since they weren’t even really dating. “Jared?” Jensen asked softly before taking the younger male’s earlobe into his mouth. “I’m gonna be honest with you; I want you so bad right now. But m’not gonna push you into something you’re going to regret, so I think we should cool it down.”

Nodding, Jared answered, “Y-Yeah, me too.” Of course, the younger male made no moves to release Jensen and Jensen made no moves to stop attacking Jared’s body with his lips and tongue. Jensen’s hips slowly started to move against Jared’s, rubbing their jean-clad cocks together as a low moan escaped him. “Ohmygod,” Jared whimpered as his hips moved up to meet Jensen’s thrusts, the younger male really not willing to stop now that he knew how damn good this could feel.

As he continued to rut against Jensen, Jared felt his balls draw up tight against his body, heat pooling in his belly. “Oh fuck…Jen,” Jared mumbled, eyes squeezed tightly closed as he gripped Jensen’s T-shirt tighter. He barely had time to breath, “I’m cumming,” before he fell over the edge, his cum spreading through his underwear and leaving a wet spot on his jeans, his cheeks coloring a deep red. However, when Jensen pulled off him and smiled, Jared couldn’t really seem to care about the fact that he had cum in his pants. 

Slowly, Jensen pulled off the mattress, helping Jared do the same once he had his footing. “We can head out the back if you want to,” he chuckled when he saw Jared was still blushing. He nodded in return when the younger male let him know that he wanted to go out the back, Jensen quickly righting his clothes before he tugged Jared to the back entrance and out the door.

**~~**

Tom sniffed softly as he allowed his head to lull back on his shoulders, letting the cocaine he’d just snorted work its magic and give him a proper high. Lately, he’d been getting high more often than usual just to tolerate being with Kerr, missing Jared now more than ever. The cocaine helped to dull that need to be with Jared, which is why Tom was relying so heavily on it. He wasn’t sure what Kerr’s excuse was, but every time Tom pulled out the drugs, Kerr was right there taking them with him. 

When this had first started, it had been fun; Tom thought that Kerr was exciting and he was happy to hang out with him; not to mention the sex had been pretty damn great. Now though, all they had going for them was the sex and that wasn’t enough for Tom. Kerr wouldn’t even do as he was told like Jared had done, so Tom was finished with this relationship; it was time to get Jared back, and he was going to do any means necessary to make that happen.


	8. Chapter Eight

Over the next few months, things had been a little shaky between the boys; Tom and Kerr were in hyper speed mode and it seemed as though they were trying to break up Jensen and Jared more than focus on their own relationship, which made Jensen a little worried. Since the night at the club, Jensen and Jared had grown closer, the two men spending nearly every waking moment with each other. Of course, Tom and Kerr were pulling out every trick they could think of to break them up, which was pissing Jensen off something fierce. 

Once, Kerr had actually made it look like Jensen was cheating on Jared with him by e-mailing old pictures of the two of them to the younger male and making threats that if Jared didn’t want to get his heart broken again, he should break up with Jensen. If it hadn’t been for Sandy and Alona, Jensen and Jared probably would have called off this whole thing then and there. Of course, with the two of them being girlfriends now, they knew better than anyone that it was best to be with someone than without, so they fought hard to keep Jensen and Jared together. Alona had actually gone over to Kerr’s apartment and threatened to kick his ass if he didn’t leave Jared alone; it had worked fortunately and Jensen and Jared’s “relationship” was stronger now that it had ever been before.

Also since that night in club, Jensen and Jared had nearly had sex three times; the third time, Jensen almost didn’t have the strength to pull away and remind himself that he and Jared weren’t actually together. The younger male had felt so good against him and Jensen hadn’t wanted to let go. Of course, he didn’t want to jeopardize their fragile relationship, so he forced himself to pull away and ended up relieving himself in the bathroom after Jared had gone home. It hadn’t been how he wanted the evening to end, but he’d dealt with it because he wanted Jared around longer and wasn’t willing to ruin it for one night of great sex.

Now, the time had finally come to go on the Caribbean trip and Jensen and Jared could hardly hold in their excitement. The Padalecki’s had a private jet which transported them all to the islands and once they were there, they were given the nicest hotel rooms the island had to offer. Of course, since Jared’s parents thought he and Jensen were dating, they’d only ordered one room for the both of them with a king sized bed, so that meant that he and Jared were going to have to sleep in the same bed; Jensen didn’t mind, but it could be a very dangerous situation, he knew. 

They were told to go exploring their room and to meet back at the beach at three o’clock, which gave them three hours to fool around together and Jensen planned on using them to his advantage. He had never been to the Caribbean, after all and he was excited to get a look at all of the different landmarks and the like. First thing though, they had to unpack and take a look at their room; if need be, they would have to make changes to accommodate for the sleeping arrangements and Jensen wanted to get that out of the way before anything else.

When he walked into their room, Jensen’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor; the room was nearly as big as his apartment! “Holy shit, this place is huge!” Jensen exclaimed, turning to glance at Jared when the younger male laughed at him. Although his family had been pretty loaded, they never really went anywhere because his parents had been working on getting the restaurant up and running and then keeping it alive while he was a kid; he’d understood at the time, but now he was kind of wishing they’d gone on more trips so he hadn’t sounded like such a tool just now with Jared in the room. 

“You should have seen the room they had me staying in when we went to the Bahamas,” Jared chuckled as he gave his head a small shake. “ _That_ room had been huge.” He glanced around the room then, taking in the high ceilings and the large, king sized bed in the middle of the floor. It was definitely going to be risky sleeping in the same bed as Jensen, but Jared was going to suck it up and deal with it. After all, it wasn’t like Jensen was going to try anything with him, so Jared knew he had nothing to worry about. Then again, maybe Jared wanted Jensen to try something; he really wasn’t sure himself, all of his emotions and feelings towards to Jensen being a boggled mess inside his head. 

A small chuckle escaped Jensen when Jared told him that his room in the Bahamas had been huge. “I can only imagine,” he smiled as he dropped his bags onto the floor. “So, how do you want to do this sleeping thing?” he asked, figuring it was best to just rip the Band-Aid off quick instead of playing with it like a little girl. “I can sleep on the floor if you want me to; I don’t mind. I mean, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, or anything.” The last time he and Jared had been in bed together, it ended with Jared cumming in his jeans and Jensen jerking off in the shower to images and the remaining memories of the way Jared had felt against him. And although he wanted Jared to be with him someday, jerking off while Jared wasn’t around was not his idea of a good time.

Jared hadn’t thought that Jensen would want to discuss the sleeping arrangements, but he supposed it was for the best. After all, who was to say that Jensen even _wanted_ Jared to sleep in the same bed as him; Jared had just been assuming that’s what they were going to do. “Um…I don’t-I don’t know,” he answered, giving his head a small shake. “I don’t want you to have to sleep on the floor, that’s for sure. So…if you…you know want to sleep in the bed with me, I won’t mind.” Biting into his bottom lip, Jared tossed himself out there when he mumbled, “I-I actually would prefer you sleep in the bed with me.”

Smiling, Jensen moved closer to Jared, pushing the younger male’s duffel bag strap off Jared’s shoulder before he leaned in and pressed a kiss to Jared’s lips. At first, the kiss was chaste, meant only to reassure Jared that there was no other place that he’d rather be than in the bed with Jared, holding the younger male in his arms; however, it soon turned more passionate, Jared’s hands fisting in Jensen’s short cropped hair as he parted his lips and invited Jensen’s tongue into his mouth, tangling it with his own. Only when they both needed air did Jensen break the kiss, forehead pressing against Jared’s own as he gave a small, breathy chuckle. “I would prefer to sleep in the bed with you too,” he assured Jared, leaning in to kiss the younger male again. 

After a roughly five minute make-out session, Jared suggested that they go explore the beaches and the shops in town before they had to meet up with their families again, Jensen agreeing with the younger male almost instantly. They both changed into their trunks before they headed out of the room, ready to go sight-seeing. It was a lot more fun than it sounded, actually, both Jensen and Jared teasing each other along the way and just generally joking around. Time had gone by so fast neither of them really knew that it was three o’clock until Jensen’s phone rang and his mother yelled at him for being late.

Twenty minutes after their scheduled meeting time, Jensen and Jared finally showed up at the house, giving their families a small, innocent smile. “Sorry we’re so late,” Jensen apologized, taking Jared’s hand in his own. “We were just exploring the island; didn’t realize how late it had gotten. It won’t happen again; promise.”

Thankfully, the Padalecki’s didn’t seem to mind that they’d showed up late, Sharon simply giving her head a small shake as she smiled at the two boys. It was clear that Jensen and Jared had been bonding further and she didn’t want to do anything to mess that up. After all, before Jensen, they’d had to deal with Tom and lost their son because of it; Jensen was probably the best thing that had ever happened to the Padalecki family if you asked Sharon and she was sure her husband would agree.

Everyone settled down at a large table where they all ate a late lunch and talked about what they’d been up to since they got to the island. Megan started off by telling everyone about a good looking Caribbean boy she had met who she was hanging out with later and Jeff concluded the conversation with his story of a young woman who sang at the tavern down on the south side of the beach; he also had plans to meet with her later.

Once everyone was finished with their food, they were all free to leave and have a good time for the next ten days they were on the island. Of course, everyone was aware that dinner was promptly at six every day and they were not to be late. And if they were bringing company, they were supposed to inform Sharon and Donna first so they knew how much food they needed to make. After all, there was nothing worse than having guests and not enough food for said guests to enjoy.

**~~**

The next nine days went by in a blur, Jensen and Jared spending all of their time at the beach when they weren’t in their hotel room. They had been growing even closer and now, lying in bed with each other, it felt like they were supposed to be there; like it was right and this wasn’t all just a game they were playing to get back at their ex’s. Jared’s head was pillowed on Jensen’s chest as his fingers slowly traced over the older male’s muscled torso. Both men were clad only in soft sweat pants because it was so hot in their room, so Jared was definitely enjoying the skin-to-skin contact.

“I want you to kiss me,” Jared mumbled suddenly, face turning up towards Jensen’s so the older male had a nice angle for the kiss. He smiled happily when Jensen did as he asked, his hand sliding up Jensen’s chest to fist in the older male’s short cropped hair as he parted his lips in invitation, coaxing Jensen’s tongue into his mouth and tangling his own around it when Jensen got the idea of what he was trying to do.

By the time the kiss broke, Jensen and Jared were both panting. Jared's hands moved to grip Jensen's shoulders, pulling the older male back in so he could devour his full, luscious lips once more. The kiss didn't last as long this time due to Jared pulling away, forehead resting against Jensen's. "I want you," Jared explained, kissing Jensen again. "Make love to me, Jen."

 

Jensen bit his lip, wanting so badly to do what Jared was asking, but knowing that it was a bad idea. If he allowed himself to give into temptation and then Jared regretted it in the morning, Jensen knew he would have just blown any chance he had at finally having Jared as his own. "I want to, but we shouldn't. If I do this and then you regret it, I –"

 

Jared's hand covered Jensen's hands, stopping him from making any more excuses. "Jen, I'm not gonna regret it," Jared assured him. "Please? Can you just forget about the whole fake dating thing? I don't even see it as fake anymore. Please, Jenny?" In all of his twenty-seven years, Jared never thought he would be begging his boyfriend to have sex with him. But here he was, practically in Jensen's lap, begging him to make love to him. Again, he kissed Jensen, hoping that he would get the picture that Jared really wanted this; wanted him. 

Frowning, Jensen's eyes locked with Jared's, tongue slowly sliding along his lips. He smiled when he could still taste Jared there. How the hell was he supposed to resist Jared when he was like this? After all, Jensen was only human and he'd wanted Jared, pretty much since the first time he'd laid eyes on him.

 

Before he could talk himself out of it again, Jensen leaned in, brushing his lips against Jared's. Gently, he pulled his hands from Jared's, his lips once again finding Jared's, the kiss deeper this time, firmer. A low moan broke from his throat as his hands slid up Jared's arms, fisting in his long hair. 

 

Jared's own hands came up to grip at Jensen's hips, pulling the older male closer to him. His lips parted, inviting Jensen's tongue into his mouth, his own tongue wrapping around Jensen's once the muscle took the invitation. 

 

Quickly, Jensen's hands slid down Jared's body, wrapping around the younger male's hips before he pulled him into his lap. Once Jared was sitting in his lap, Jensen allowed his hands to move up Jared's body again, fingers tangling in his hair once more. He loved his hair. It was soft and just long enough that he could curl his fingers in the silky strands. 

 

A surprised moan broke from Jared when he was pulled into Jensen's lap, his legs spreading so that he could straddle his boyfriend's thighs. His lips slid across Jensen's cheek, down his neck and across his shoulder. God, Jensen tasted so good. Jared could just kiss and suck his skin all day. Slowly, his hands slid up Jensen's chest, tweaking the older male's nipples. 

 

Jensen moved his hands to grip Jared's ass, holding the younger male tightly as he flipped them, blanketing Jared's body with his own. His lips trailed across Jared's cheek, down to his long neck, nipping and biting at the sensitive flesh. He could feel the moan breaking from the younger male's throat long before he heard it as he teased his neck with his lips, teeth and tongue, making him go crazy with need, wanting to feel Jared's moans vibrating against his own lips again and hear the sweet sounds coming from his lover's parted lips.

 

"Ungh," Jared groaned, his hips rolling upwards to meet Jensen's, grinding their cocks together. His hands moved to press against his boyfriend's shoulder blades, pulling Jensen's upper body closer to his own, arching off the bed in order to get impossibly closer. When he felt Jensen's lips and teeth against his neck, he turned his head to the side, giving Jensen better access, another moan tearing from his throat. 

 

Quickly, Jared gripped Jensen's chin, pulling his face up from his neck so that he could mold their mouths together once more, tongue pushing its way into Jensen's mouth to tangle with the older male's own. As the kiss continued, Jared's hands slid back behind Jensen's head, fingers tangling in the short cropped strands of Jensen's hair. 

 

Jensen sucked Jared's bottom lip into his mouth, biting down into the soft flesh of the younger male's lip, pulling his head back slightly. "I don't want this to be a fake relationship anymore either, Jay," he assured him, hand sliding down his boyfriend's chest, tweaking and teasing his nipple on his way. "But are you sure you want to do this right now?"

 

Nodding, Jared licked his lips, head pressing into the pillow as he clenched his teeth, eyes squeezed tightly closed, moans and gasps of pleasure leaving him. He moaned softly once more as Jensen tweaked his nipple, back arching into Jensen's hand. "Good; that's really good. And yes, I'm sure I want to do this," he assured him, nodding once more. Again, he rolled his hips, grinding against Jensen. "Please?"

 

That was all Jensen needed to hear before he was convinced. He wasn't going to ask anymore. Quickly, he moved his hand to the waistband of Jared's sweats, tugging them down the younger male's hips before pulling the offending material away from his body, tossing them unceremoniously into the corner, figuring they could worry about it later as his lips once again found Jared's. As the kiss continued, Jensen's hand found Jared's cock, stroking him with long, lazy pulls. His free hand slid across the mattress, blindly feeling around for the drawer of the nightstand. Once he found it, he tugged it open, reaching inside and grabbing the lube. He wasn't sure how it got there, knowing that he hadn't brought any along, but he wasn't going to worry about it right now, that was for sure.

 

Jared gasped, his back arching off the bed, pressing his body closer to Jensen's as the older male gave his dick attention. "Oh God, Jen," he moaned, watching as Jensen reached for the nightstand and grabbed a tube of lubricant, also unaware of how it had gotten there, but feeling the same way about it as Jensen did; he was just grateful that it was there.

He moaned into the kiss, lips parting in invitation, tongue tangling with Jensen's as soon as the older male took the hint. His eyes squeezed tightly closed once more as Jensen's changed the pressure at which he was stroking him, back once more arching off the bed, another moan breaking from his throat only to be swallowed up in the kiss. 

 

As fast as he possibly could, Jensen popped the cap on the lube. "Throw your leg over my shoulder," he instructed. When Jared did as he was told, Jensen poured a generous amount of lube into his palm, coating his index and middle fingers. He then slowly circled the digits around Jared's tightly puckered hole, pressing gently, then releasing. 

 

Gasping, Jared's body once again arched off the bed, hands gripping Jensen's shoulders, fingers biting into his flesh. "J-Jen, just go slow," he explained, licking his lips. "I haven't--It's...been a while." He and Tom hadn't really been having sex towards the end of their relationship, so it had been about a year since Jared had something inside him.

 

Slowly, Jensen nodded, leaning in to kiss Jared's lips once more. His index finger gently pressed forward, slipping past the tight ring of muscle before he stopped, giving Jared time to adjust. After a moment, he pushed in deeper, all the way to the third knuckle, once again stopping so Jared could get used to the invasion. 

 

Once Jensen thought Jared was ready, he began to move his finger, pulling the digit almost completely out of Jared's body, leaving just the tip before pushing back inside all of the way. He continued the action a few more times before he added a second finger, scissoring the digits inside the younger male, opening him up for what was to come.

 

Low moans and groans broke from Jared's throat as Jensen worked him, Jared's hands gripping Jensen's shoulders tighter. "Mm...Jen, yeah, oh God." His right hand slid up Jensen's shoulder to his neck, then higher, fisting in his short-cropped hair, pulling the older male into a heated kiss. Another moan broke from him as his tongue slipped into Jensen's mouth, tangling with his boyfriend's own tongue. 

 

As the kiss continued, Jensen added a third finger, moving all three digits inside Jared. Once he thought Jared was ready, he pulled his fingers away from him completely, grabbing the lube again, squirting a large glob into the center of his palm. He then coated his cock liberally, his free hand pressing against the bed to keep himself from falling on top of Jared and crushing the younger male. A few moments later, he slipped his arm beneath Jared's knee, pulling his leg back over his shoulder, it having slipped down when Jensen was grabbing the lube.

 

Before Jensen made another move to do more, he looked into Jared's eyes, as if asking if this is what he really wanted; silently letting Jared know this was the last chance he had to back out, and if he didn't speak now, then he was going to have to forever hold his peace. Sure, he had decided earlier he wasn't going to ask again, but he needed to make absolutely sure he was ready for this. 

 

Jared didn't need Jensen to voice his question, knowing full well what he was asking with that deep look of his. His only answer was to lean up, his hand slipping into Jensen's hair before he pulled the older male down for a deep, passionate kiss. Of course he wasn't going to change his mind about this. After all, not ten minutes ago, he was on Jensen's lap, begging the older male to do just this, and now he was getting what he wanted, and Jensen thought he was going to ask him to stop?! Was he crazy?!

 

The kiss was a good enough answer for Jensen, his tongue sliding into Jared's mouth to tangle with the younger male's own. His right hand slid up Jared's thigh, over his side up to his face, cupping his cheek as the kiss continued. Meanwhile, his left hand gripped the base of his own cock, guiding himself into Jared's prepared hole. Slowly, he pulled back, licking his lips, the taste of Jared lingering there before he began to push into his lover.

 

As Jensen pushed into him, Jared gasped, biting his lip to keep most of the noises stifled. His hands continued to grip Jensen's shoulders, fingernails biting into Jensen's flesh. He was grateful that Jensen actually listened to him and was taking this slow, the older male stopping every few inches to allow Jared time to adjust. Finally, he was all the way in, stopping his movements completely to allow Jared to get used to the invasion. 

 

After a few more moments, Jared licked his lips, cupping Jensen's cheek as he nodded, letting the older male know it was okay for him to move. Quickly, Jared lifted his upper body off the bed, capturing Jensen's lips, pushing his tongue past the older male's lips. A small gasp escaped him, the noise being swallowed up in the kiss, as Jensen began to slowly pull out.

 

When Jared nodded, Jensen knew what he was trying to say. Generally, when you spend every waking moment with a person, you tend to know what they're trying to say even without words. As he kissed the younger male, he braced himself with his right hand, left hand sliding up Jared's side, snaking around his back, fingers biting lightly into his lover's smooth, perfect skin. Slowly, he started moving, pulling almost all the way out of the younger male, leaving just the tip inside before just as slowly pushing back in. 

 

Small moans and groans filled the room as the men continued to make love, Jensen gradually picking up the pace with each thrust, setting a steady rhythm. Jared's fingertips bit into Jensen's shoulders as he pulled the older male impossibly closer, his lips once again claiming Jensen's in a heated, passionate kiss, their tongues tangling once more. Jensen's left hand slid around from Jared's back, teasing his lover's peaked nipple, pinching the nub lightly before his hand slid downward, moving over smooth, baby soft skin, feeling Jared's muscles rippling under his touch. He noticed that Jared was stroking his shoulder blade a lot, which seemed to be getting the younger male even more in the mood; it was a little shocking to know that Jared had what seemed like a tattoo fetish, but Jensen sure as hell wasn't about to complain about it.

 

His fingers wrapped around Jared's hard, leaking shaft once he reached his destination, stroking the younger male in time with his thrusts. Jensen then angled his hips, snapping forward, a smile spreading across his features when Jared's lips parted, his eyes squeezing tightly closed, fingers biting harder into his flesh, letting Jensen know he had hit that sweet spot inside his lover he had been aiming for. With each thrust thereafter, he made sure to hit Jared's prostate, wanting to make it as pleasurable as possible for his lover. 

 

Jared could feel his orgasm coming, his whole body growing somewhat tense. He just hoped Jensen would get the message because there was no way he could even remember how to tell Jensen he was about to cum right now. Not when the older male was making him feel so damn good. His hands balled into fists against Jensen's back, balls drawing up close to his body before the first ribbon of cum shot out of his dick, coating Jensen's hand and splashing against Jared's stomach. 

 

When he felt Jared's body tensing, Jensen knew he was about to cum. After a few more thrusts, he felt Jared's release wetting his hand. Giving a few more thrusts, Jensen came inside Jared, moaning as he did, head tilting forward, stifling the louder noises against Jared's shoulder. Finally, their pleasure subsided, leaving both men panting and gasping as they lie next to each other, blankets pulled up to their waists. Jared didn't even remember when Jensen had taken his clothes off, but he didn't really care about that either; it was just a simple observation. Before Jared even knew what he was saying, he sighed, “I love you, Jensen.”

 

As soon as Jared realized what he had just said, his eyes snapped wide open, the younger male worried that he had just blown this forever. He was such a damn idiot; everyone knew that saying the words ‘I love you’ right after sex was something that killed a relationship! And now Jared was going to lose Jensen before he even had a chance to really have him! God, he was so fucking stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Much to his surprise, however, Jensen merely leaned over and kissed his lips again, pulling the younger male closer into his body. “I love you too, Jared,” he admitted, feeling heat fill his entire body at the chance to finally say those words and not feel like he had to keep them all bottled up inside. His friends had been telling him for weeks to let Jared know how he felt, but Jensen was worried that Jared didn’t feel the same way. Now he knew differently of course and he was glad Jared reciprocated his feelings. Kissing Jared’s temple, Jensen whispered, “Get some sleep baby; we have a long airplane ride ahead of us tomorrow.”


	9. Chapter Nine

A wide smile came to Jared’s lips as he looked around his house, taking in the bare walls and the boxes sitting close to the door. After he and Jensen had come back from the Caribbean, the older male had asked Jared to move in with him and Jared had graciously accepted. They had been busy transporting things by themselves over the last few days, and now there were only a few large things in the house that needed to be moved; a moving truck was on its way right now and then Jared would finally be all moved in. Good thing too; all of this moving was causing him to be separated from his dogs that were now at Jensen’s place, and he didn’t like it.

When the knock on the door sounded, Jared smiled once more, heading towards the door. “I’m coming!” he called as he grabbed the door handle, swinging it open. However, he wasn’t met with the movers, but none other than Tom Welling. “Tom?” Jared asked, giving his head a small shake. “What-What are you doing here?” The last time Jared had seen Tom was at a party before he and Jensen left for the Caribbean and Jared discovered that his ex-boyfriend whom he had put on a pedestal had been doing drugs with his new lover. He wasn’t sure how long it had been going on, but Jared was very anti-drugs, so he wasn’t going to stand for that. In a heated argument, Jared yelled at Tom to leave him the hell alone and never bother him again; apparently, Tom hadn’t gotten the message.

“I came here to see you, baby,” Tom answered with a slow, seductive smile. Although Jared had told him to stay away, Tom just couldn’t bring himself to do so; he wasn’t the type who liked to lose and he sure as hell didn’t like to take no for an answer. “Can I come in, Jared? I just want to talk.” And after the talk, he was sure to have Jared eating out of the palm of his hand again.

Slowly, Jared shook his head. “I don’t think that would be such a good idea,” he answered, biting into his bottom lip. However, when Tom insisted, Jared finally gave in, moving from the door way to allow Tom access into his apartment. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked, arms crossed over his chest to show Tom that he did not like this plan. Jared was a very busy man, after all and he didn’t have time for this.

Frowning as he looked around the room, Tom asked, “Are you planning on moving?” Ever since he’d known Jared, this was where the kid had lived; Jared had never shown any interest in moving before so it was obvious to Tom that this had something to do with Jensen. The thought pissed him off more than he would have liked to admit. This whole Jensen and Jared thing had gone way too far and Tom was about to put an end to it. 

Jared shifted his position as he gave a small nod. “Yeah, Jensen and I are moving in together,” he explained, not knowing why he felt obligated to give Tom an explanation, but he felt that it was necessary. “I actually have a moving truck coming over in a few minutes, so is this going to take long?” Jared was starting to get a little irritated; twice he’d asked Tom what he wanted and both times Tom had evaded the question. He wasn’t going to put up with this much longer.

Another frown came to Tom’s lips when Jared explained he and Jensen were moving in together. “Well, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about,” he explained, head tilting to the side as he looked at Jared with pleading eyes. Quickly, he stepped up to the younger male, pushing Jared against the wall and devouring his mouth, moaning into the kiss as his hand explored south. “Let’s stop playing these games, Jared,” he mumbled with a small shake of his head. “I want you back; and I’m not going to take no for an answer. Just tell me what I have to do and I’ll do it baby, I swear!”

As Jared was all but manhandled, the younger male yelped softly, hands quickly pushing at Tom’s shoulders. “No, get off me!” he yelled, shoving harder when Tom didn’t listen the first time. “There is no us anymore! You made sure of that when you broke up with me at the restaurant that night, okay Tom?!” Angrily, Jared gave Tom one last shove, effectively getting the older male off him. “Just get out. Get out and leave me the hell alone. I’m done with you. There will _never_ be an us again.”

In all honesty, Tom was a little surprised Jared was being so rough with him. The kid had never turned him down before and it was kind of turning him on. “Mmm…Jared, this new you is making me kind of horny. Why don’t you take care of this for me baby?” Before Jared had a chance to say anything, Tom grabbed the younger male’s hand and pushed it against his hard, jean clad member, moaning softly as he bit into his bottom lip. “You remember how damn good we were together, don’t you, Jared?”

Again, Jared shook his head, shoving Tom away once more. “No, we weren’t good together,” he corrected. “You were a horrible boyfriend and I was just too star struck to see it. But I see it now. You couldn’t even get time off work to go to my grandfather’s funeral! And you knew how much he meant to me, Tom! And let’s not forget about all of those times I had to bail you outta jail for drunk driving. You don’t know the definition of being a good boyfriend.” Moving towards his door, Jared ordered, “Get out. And stay away from me and Jensen.”

Before Tom had a chance to do anything else, the movers walked up to Jared’s door, smiling at the two men. “Uh, which one of you is Jared Padalecki?” one of the men asked, eyes darting from one man to the next. When Jared confirmed that was him, the man handed him the clipboard he was holding so he could sign before the two men walked into the house and started to get Jared’s belongings into the truck for transport. 

Luckily, Tom had run off once the movers got there, leaving Jared alone for the moment. He was going to have to tell Jensen about this because it was already weighing on his conscience; even if he hadn’t been the one to initiate the kiss, or even return the kiss for that matter, Jared still felt like he had just cheated on Jensen and he didn’t like the feeling. Sighing, he thanked the movers and explained that he would be over to the house as soon as he could but Jensen was there if they needed anymore signatures. 

True to his word, Jared showed up at Jensen’s house a few hours later, the younger male having gotten caught up talking to Megan longer than he would have liked about her new boyfriend and how damn hot he was. Of course, Jared knew that it was best to just agree rather than argue with her or complain about not wanting to hear it. Finally, he was off the phone though and he was heading into his new home, a wide smile coming to his lips when he was greeted by his and Jensen’s dogs. “Hi babies,” he smiled, allowing them all to lick his face as he squeezed his eyes closed and pressed his lips tightly together. Once they seemed satisfied with their work, the all pulled back, barking playfully. “Where’s Daddy?” he asked, patting each dog on the head briefly. “Huh? Where’s Daddy?”

All of a sudden, Jared was grabbed from behind, the younger male gasping softly as he was pushed into the door behind him moments before his lips were ravaged. It didn’t take long to realize that it was Jensen who had grabbed him, the younger male moaning into the kiss as he fisted his hands in Jensen’s hair. “Mmm…hi,” he greeted when he could speak again, smiling at his lover before he moved to kiss him once more. “Was wondering where you ran off to.”

“I was in the kitchen,” Jensen explained, hands roaming over Jared’s chest, feeling muscles ripple beneath the thin cotton of his T-shirt. “Had to put lunch away while you were gone; Steve and Christian would have kicked my ass if I didn’t save them some of your soup, you know that.” Kissing Jared again, Jensen pulled the younger male closer by his hips, moaning softly as their jean clad cocks brushed against each other. “Mmm…missed you so much baby.”

Smiling, Jared chuckled, “I was only gone for a few hours.” Of course, that really meant nothing because Jared missed Jensen too. Really, some may call it unhealthy, but Jared didn’t care what other people thought; he loved Jensen and he saw no problem with missing the older male when they weren’t together. “But I missed you too,” he promised, nipping Jensen’s bottom lip before he pulled back, a soft sigh escaping him. “I need to tell you about something that happened just now,” he explained, gently nudging Jensen towards the couch.

Once they were sitting down, Jensen scooted closer to Jared, fingers carding through the younger male’s hair. “What do you want to tell me?” he asked, eyes searching the younger male’s face. Right now, all Jensen wanted to do was get Jared into the bedroom, but it was clear that the younger male had something on his mind, so Jensen was going to hold off on his own wants and let Jared talk.

Jared bit into his bottom lip as he thought of the right words to explain to Jensen what just happened; he knew that Jensen wasn’t going to be mad, but it was a delicate topic, so he needed to word this right. “When I was at my apartment, Tom came by to see me,” he started, a deep frown on his lips. “He said that he just wanted to talk, but when I let him in, he pushed me against the wall and kissed me. I didn’t want him to, but he wouldn’t listen to me when I told him to get out.” Frowning, Jared gave a small shrug as he added, “I just wanted you to know; don’t want to keep secrets from you.”

It kind of pissed him off that Tom had the nerve to kiss his boyfriend, but his anger wasn’t directed at Jared for sure. “It’s okay baby,” he mumbled as he pressed his lips to Jared’s. “Glad you told me. But if I ever see that little dickhead again, I’m going to kick his ass for touching you without permission.” He had to give Tom props; he had balls. Unfortunately, he was too ballsy for Jensen’s liking.

When Jensen told him he was going to kick Tom’s ass the next time he saw him, Jared smiled, giving his head a small shake. “You’re so bad,” he mumbled as he leaned in and crushed his lips against Jensen’s again, having a feeling he knew what Jensen had been thinking about when he pushed him against the door; Jared was more than happy to make Jensen’s fantasies a reality. “Jen…” he breathed as the older male kissed and nipped at his neck, Jared tilting his head back to offer Jensen better access. “Oh God Jenny, I want you so bad. Please babe?” His hands moved to Jensen’s T-shirt, tugging at the material impatiently. “I want this off.”

“You wanna take my shirt off now?” Jensen asked, knowing full well that Jared did, but he wanted to tease the younger male a little longer. He pushed his hands up Jared’s shirt and pressed his palms against the younger male’s smooth skin, loving the way Jared’s muscles rippled under his hands. It was almost as if Jared’s muscles knew Jensen was touching him and they were answering. He liked it a lot.

He had to fight the urge to roll his eyes when Jensen asked if he wanted to take his shirt off now, instead nodding. “Yeah,” Jared answered, eyes sliding closed when Jensen’s warm hands pressed against his abdomen. “Right now. Wanna feel you, too.” Without waiting for permission, Jared grabbed the hem of Jensen’s shirt and started pushing it up Jensen’s torso, eventually forcing Jensen’s hands out from under his own shirt so he could finally get the offending fabric off his lover’s body.

As soon as Jensen’s shirt was off, Jared dipped his head to attack one of his boyfriend’s nipples, sucking the bud into his mouth and jabbing at the bud with his tongue until it pebbled to a hard nub. Once that happened, he pulled off, leaving just his lips, giving Jensen’s nipple a mini blowjob, promises of what was to come later in another key area of Jensen’s body.

 

Feeling Jared’s mouth around his nipple caused Jensen to gasp, his body arching off the couch to press into Jared’s mouth while his hand moved to fist in Jared’s hair, holding him in place. “Oh God, Jay,” he gasped, biting into the soft flesh of his lower lip to stifle the moans wanting to break from him. “Don’t stop, baby. God, don’t stop.”

 

The fact that he could get Jensen this horny just by giving his nipples a little bit of attention made Jared feel pretty good about himself. Once he figured the nipple he was currently working on was teased enough, he pushed Jensen’s hand away from his head so he could move onto its twin. “I won’t stop,” he assured him before he sucked the opposite nipple into his mouth, moaning softly at the taste of Jensen.

Again, Jensen arched into Jared’s mouth as moans broke from between his parted lips. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take. His dick was already hard and pressing painfully against the zipper of his jeans, after all. And Jared sitting in his lap was doing nothing to help that ache between his legs, either. Quickly, he grabbed a fistful of Jared’s hair and pulled the younger male into a deep, hungry kiss. “Can’t take this anymore,” he gasped between kisses, nipping Jared’s kiss swollen lips. “I’m giving you to the count of ten to have your clothes off and be in the bedroom. If you’re not ready then you’re being punished.” 

 

Quickly, Jensen kissed Jared one last time before pulling away and giving Jared a gentle shove. “One. Two.” He watched as Jared scrambled to do what he’d been told to do before Jensen got to ten, smiling softly as he heard the bed springs creaking under Jared’s weight when he finally got into the bed. “Nine. Ten. Ready or not Jay, here I come!” With that, Jensen was off the couch and moving to the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him.

**~~**

Jared chuckled softly as Jensen wrapped his arms around him and crushed their lips together again, moaning softly into the kiss. “Jen,” he chuckled as he tilted his head back, exposing his neck to his lover’s hungry lips, “I’m only gonna be gone for a little while. And when I come back, you can have me in any way you want, okay?” He had to head over to his old place to check and see if Megan dropped her favorite ring there the last time she’d visited before the cleaners came in and got rid of it, if it was even there. “You just promise me you’ll get some sleep, okay? Last night you were out pretty late with the band and I don’t want you to get sick from lack of sleep.”

Smiling, Jensen gave a small nod to let Jared know he would do as he was told. “All right, I’ll get some sleep. Just wake me up when you get home so you can make nice on your promise.” Again, Jensen smiled as he released Jared reluctantly, slapping the younger male’s ass when Jared turned around. “Hurry back, baby!” he called after his lover, gently closing the door behind Jared before he turned towards the bedroom and headed inside. After all, he had promised to get some sleep, so it was probably best that he make nice on his own promise if he wanted Jared to do the same thing when he got home.

It didn’t take Jared long to get to his house, the younger male using the spare key to get inside since he didn’t have his own on him at the moment. He had plans to make this quick though not too quick; after all, Jensen needed his sleep so Jared wanted to at least give him a good hour before he showed up again. Really, an hour wasn’t going to be all that hard since his house wasn’t small; there were plenty of nooks and crannies Megan’s ring could have fallen into while she was here and Jared was prepared to search each and every one of them. 

A small sigh escaped him as he tossed his jacket onto the floor beside the window, dropping to his knees as he started searching for the ring. There was no furniture here, so it wasn’t like there were many things it could hide behind, which made Jared’s job a little easier. That was a good thing because he knew how much this ring meant to his sister and he had promised that he’d get it back for her, so he was determined to find it. 

For about an hour and a half, Jared searched for the ring, coming up with nothing. Sighing, he pushed himself off the floor and headed into the last room he hadn’t checked; the kitchen. After another twenty minutes of searching, Jared found it, grabbing up the piece of jewelry and smiling at it. “Gotcha,” he chuckled, moving towards the living room and tucking the ring into his jacket pocket for safe keeping.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut, Jared quickly turning to see who had come into the house. “Jensen?” Jared asked when he didn’t see anyone, a small frown on his lips when there was no answer. Slowly, he moved towards the entry way, knowing if someone was in here, they had to start there before coming into the living room where Jared was at the moment. “Hello?”

Hands gripped his shirt and yanked him into the entry way once he was close enough, his attacker shoving him against a wall and crushing their lips together before Jared had a chance to process anything that was happening. “I told you I wasn’t going to take no for an answer,” Tom hissed in Jared’s ear before he sucked the lobe into his mouth, pushing Jared into the wall harder when the younger male started to struggle. “Stop fucking struggling!”

“Let me go!” Jared yelled, not listening when Tom yelled at him to stop struggling; that was the last thing he was going to do! He groaned softly when Tom kissed him again, trying to get away though Tom was holding his chin in place so he couldn’t. Once the kiss broke, Tom started mumbling things in his ear, Jared instantly realizing that his ex-boyfriend was under the influence of something. “Are you high?” Jared asked in disbelief, giving his head a small shake as Tom looked at him with slightly unfocused eyes.

 

Kerr chuckled as he walked into the house, smiling at Jared as he explained, “High as the sky baby.” He continued to laugh as he walked closer to Jared, pressing his index and middle fingers to Jared’s lips to keep him quiet. “Don’t worry baby; we brought you a little something too.”

When Kerr told him that they brought him something too, Jared’s eyes widened in alarm, the younger male quickly shaking his head. “No,” he protested, trying to get out of Tom’s grasp again. “Don’t touch me!” He felt Tom tighten his grip on him, forcing him to stop moving as much as he had been, but not completely. However, when he felt the backhand to his face, Jared stopped moving, the force knocking him off his game for a moment.

Again, hands were on him, picking him up off the floor where he had fallen. “I told you to fucking stop struggling,” Tom hissed in Jared’s ear, punching the younger male in the jaw for disobeying him. He looked up at Kerr then, reaching for the syringe in his lover’s hand. “Give it to me if you’re not going to doing it, ya damn panty waste!” he yelled, not wanting to give Jared a chance to retaliate.

Angrily, Kerr slapped Tom’s hand away as he hissed, “I’ll fucking do it; just get the hell outta my way.” Shoving Tom away, Kerr grabbed Jared’s arm and injected the drug into the younger male’s veins, smiling once the syringe was empty. “Don’t try to fight it Jared,” he smiled, giving the younger male a small pat on the chest. “Just let it happen; you’ll feel so good if you do.”

Tears gathered in Jared’s eyes as he felt his body relaxing, the younger male knowing that the drugs were working in his system and that he was powerless to stop them. Sandy had once been addicted to drugs, so Jared knew first-hand what it could do to someone, which was why he was so anti-drugs. And now, to have them forced on him like this, Jared felt more helpless than ever. “Please…” he whimpered, head shaking slowly on the floor beneath him. “Don’t…just leave me…alone.” The last thing Jared remembered before the calm, welcomed darkness enveloped him was his shirt being tugged off his body. 

**~~**

A small frown came to Jensen’s lips as he listened to Jared’s voice mail play in his ear for the third time, the older male sighing as he left a message. “Hey Jay, it’s me…again. Just wondering where you are, baby; you said that you were only going to be a few hours and it’s been almost five. Anyway, give me a call when you get this. Bye baby.” Something was definitely wrong; Jensen could feel it in the pit of his stomach. He was supposed to go on stage in a few minutes with Christian and Steve, but he had something in the back of his mind telling him he needed to go find Jared.

Although Christian and Steve were counting on him tonight to pull this gig off, Jensen couldn’t stay; not when Jared was MIA like this. “Hey guys, can I talk to you for a minute?” Jensen asked, tugging his friends away from the rest of the band. “I need to go; Jared said that he was going to be back from his house five hours ago and I gotta go make sure he’s all right.”

Frowning, Christian asked, “Well…what are you gonna do right now if he isn’t? We’re like three hours outta town, dude.” Seeing that his question had knocked some sense into Jensen, Christian suggested, “Why don’t you call Alona and ask her to run by and check on Jared, all right? We don’t need you for the first few songs, and we’ll take a break before we do. If there’s something really wrong with him, we’ll cut this thing short and head back. Sound good?”

It wasn’t the best plan in the world, but Jensen knew it was the only plan they had, the younger male giving a small nod to let his friends know he was on board with this plan. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be back here on the phone if you guys need me.” Quickly, Jensen pulled his cell phone from his pocket once more and dialed Alona’s number. “Hey Alona, can you do me a huge favor?” he asked when his friend answered the phone. “Can you run by my house and see if Jared’s there? And if he isn’t there, can you check his old house for me, please?”

“Um…yeah, sure,” Alona answered, a small confused frown on her lips. “Is there something wrong?” When Jensen answered that he just had a bad feeling, Alona shrugged. “All right, I’ll go check. I’ll call you if I find anything out. Or you know, I’ll have Jared call you, whichever.” After saying goodbye, Alona hung up the phone, leaving her podium as she set out on a search for Jeffrey. Her shift was almost over, the restaurant about an hour from closing, so she didn’t think he would have a problem with her leaving early to run an errand for Jensen; at least she hoped he wouldn’t. “Jeffrey, I just got a call from Jensen and he wants me to go find Jared for him. Do you care if I head out early?”

Just as she had suspected, Jeffrey told her she was free to leave, Alona quickly grabbing her purse before she headed out of the restaurant and was on her way to Jensen’s house. When she couldn’t find Jared there, she got back into her car and headed over to Jared’s old house building like Jensen had instructed her to do. She quickly climbed the two flights of stairs to reach Jared’s house and was alarmed to find the door hanging wide open. Cautiously, she stepped inside, listening for any signs of trouble. “Jared?” she called, hoping the younger male was either not here or here and perfectly fine. 

Unfortunately, as she stepped into the bedroom, her fears of Jared being hurt were confirmed as her eyes landed on Jared’s naked, motionless form lying on the floor where there had once been a bed. His hands were cuffed behind his back and there was blood on the floor around him. Her hands shook as she pulled out her cell phone, dialing 911 as she moved over to Jared, pulling her jacket off and covering the young male’s lower half with it. “Hello, yes I need an ambulance. My friend has been hurt!” she yelled into the phone when the operator picked up. She quickly spouted off the address through her tears, mumbling into the phone without even realizing it, “Oh God, he’s so cold. Please…we need help.”


	10. Chapter Ten

Jensen moved hurriedly down the hall towards Alona, his head spinning so badly he thought he was going to fall over before he even made it there. He could feel Christian and Steve behind him moving, but he wasn’t paying them any mind; the only thing that mattered right now was getting to Jared. “Where is he?” Jensen asked when he finally reached his old friend, taking in the tear streaks on her cheeks; if he had been more stable, he probably would have tried to comfort her, but not when he was like this.

Slowly, Alona shook her head, letting Jensen know that she wasn’t exactly sure where Jared was. “The last time I saw him they were taking him to surgery,” she explained, her face crumpling with her tears once more. “He looked so awful Jen,” she whispered, giving her head a small shake. When Jensen didn’t go to comfort Alona, Christian and Steve stepped up to the plate, knowing that Jensen was probably too traumatized to do it himself.

“Surgery?” Jensen asked, giving his head a small shake. No, this couldn’t be happening; if Jared had gone into surgery that meant something was really wrong with him. Something that his body couldn’t just heal itself and that just wouldn’t do. “We-We um…need to contact his family,” Jensen mumbled, this whole thing not really processing in his mind. “And his friends…someone should call his friends.”

As Jensen babbled about calling Jared’s family and his friends, Steve pulled out his cell phone and got to it, knowing Jensen wasn’t really in the mood to do that shit and Christian was still comforting Alona, which left only him. There were tears and questions that Steve didn’t want to answer over the phone as he informed everyone of what had happened, telling them they should get to _Mercy General Hospital_ as soon as they possibly could before he moved on to the next person who needed to be called.

By the time everyone had been notified, a man in a white jacket was walking towards them. “Are you all here for Jared Padalecki?” the doctor asked, smiling softly at the four of them when they nodded. It was clear that they were all desperate for answers, but unless one of them was family, he couldn’t give out that kind of information. “And which one of you is part of his family?” When they explained to him that they weren’t family, only friends, he frowned, giving his head a small shake. “Does he have family on the way? Because I’m afraid I can’t give out that kind of information about a patient without either the patient’s or his family’s consent.”

Jensen’s eyes widened with shock when the doctor told them he wasn’t going to give out any information about Jared. “You sonuva–” Jensen started, making a move to grab the doctor only to have Christian and Steve grab him as Alona let out a small scream. He was screaming that Jared was his boyfriend and demanding for answers, demanding to know what happened to Jared as Christian and Steve whispered words of comfort into his ear. Well, Christian did anyway.

On the other hand, Steve was hissing in Jensen’s ear, “You won’t be able to do anything for Jared if they lock you up for assault, you dumbass! Now cool it! We’ll wait for his family to get here and then we’ll get answers, all right? The best thing you can do for him now is just calm the fuck down.” When that seemed to get through to Jensen, the younger male stopped struggling and merely fell to his knees as tears spilled down his cheeks. 

Twenty minutes passed before Megan finally showed up, her eyes red and puffy, making it clear that she had been crying. “Where is he?” she asked, her attention snapping to Jensen because she figured he would have the most information. However, all she received in answer was a small shake of the older male’s head, causing her to frown softly. “What-What does that mean? You don’t know where he is or –”

“We don’t know where he is,” Steve explained before she finished her sentence, knowing that if she was about to say what he thought she was, he didn’t want Jensen to hear it. “They won’t tell us anything because we’re not his family.” That was a stupid ass rule as far as Steve was concerned anyway; just because they weren’t related by blood, didn’t mean they weren’t Jared’s family.

Squaring her shoulders, Megan answered, “Well I am.” Quickly, she made her way to the front desk, asking to speak with the doctor covering Jared Padalecki’s chart. Of course, she wasn’t prepared to hear what was wrong with Jared, knowing that she didn’t have enough details when she got here to prepare herself in the car, so she was just going to give her consent to allow Jared’s files to be shared with Jensen; they were practically married after all, so she didn’t think it would be a big deal.

The same doctor who had appeared earlier walked towards them once again, smiling at Megan softly, knowing that she must be the family member who had just arrived. “Miss Padalecki?” he addressed, smiling once more when Megan nodded. “I’m Doctor Christopher Cousins; shall we step into my office?”

Slowly, Megan shook her head. “N-No,” she answered, licking her lips. “Anything you have to say about Jared, you tell Jensen Ackles, do you hear me? They’re practically married anyway, so he’s close enough to family.” When Dr. Cousins opened his mouth to protest, Megan shook her head, putting her hand up to silence him. “Listen to me very closely; my family donates to this hospital every year – a large sum of money – and I would hate to have to tell them to stop because there is a doctor working there who doesn’t do what the patient’s family asks him to. Do you understand what I’m saying, Doctor?”

Although it was against protocol, Dr. Cousins nodded, letting Megan know he understood. “Mr. Ackles, step this way please,” he muttered, leading Jensen into his office where they could have a little more privacy. He made sure to take a seat at his desk, his finger not far from the panic button under the desk in case Jensen lost his temper again. Of course, he didn’t think the younger male would, but it was better to be safe than sorry. “Do you know if Jared uses drugs illegally, Mr. Ackles?” Dr. Cousins asked, needing something to break the ice and the drugs in Jared’s system had been the least of the young male’s worries. 

When he was asked if Jared used drugs, Jensen quickly shook his head. “No, he’s very anti-drugs,” he answered, Jared having told him the story of Jeff being addicted when he was younger and then going on to say that he would never touch the stuff. “Why? Were-Were there drugs in his system?” If there were drugs in his system, someone other than Jared would have had to put them there, Jensen was sure of that.

Doctor Cousins nodded when Jensen asked if there were drugs in Jared’s system. “There was a drug called Pethidine,” he explained with a small frown, not knowing why someone would take such a drug willingly, but there were sickos out there, he supposed. “Actually, there were large amounts of the drug in Jared’s system. Almost as if someone was dosing him.” Sighing, Doctor Cousins asked, “Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt Jared?”

If Jensen had been thinking more clearly, he would have said yes, there was someone who wanted to hurt Jared; but his mind wasn’t working properly, so he simply shook his head. “No,” he answered, with a soft sob. “Everyone loves Jared; I don’t know who would do something like this to him.” Sniffling, he asked, “What else? Was there anything else wrong with him?”

It was clear that Jensen was running on empty here and the only thing that was keeping him going was sheer curiosity about what happened to his lover, so Doctor Cousins suggested that they take a break. Jensen refused, however, telling him that he wanted to know what else happened. “Well…there were more severe injuries that required surgery,” he explained. “His left wrist was badly broken and then after lying with his hands cuffed behind his back for so long, it caused even more damage, so we had to go in surgically and repair it. There were various deep lacerations that needed to be stitched up as well as significant bruising over eighty five percent of his body.”

He paused for a moment, knowing that the next part was going to be the worst for Jensen to hear and he wanted to give the younger male a chance to digest everything before he dropped more bad news on the kid. Of course, it didn’t seem like Jensen wanted a break, the younger male looking up at him and once again asking if there was more to be told. With one last sigh, Doctor Cousins started in on the worst news yet. “There was also significant bruises and tearing inside his rectum, which leads us to believe that Jared was raped. We tested for DNA but all that came back were traces of latex and spermicide as well as other…materials, which points to Jared not only being raped, but sodomized with foreign objects as well.”

The room started spinning again and Jensen felt like the floor had just been ripped out from under him and the Earth was swallowing him whole where he sat. “Thank you,” he mumbled, really not thinking of anything else to say in this kind of situation. In his defense, his brain wasn’t functioning properly. “Can I, um…can I go see him?” He wasn’t sure how this whole hospital thing worked, but he wanted to go see Jared and if this doctor told him he wasn’t allowed, he was going to throw a fit.

Fortunately, Doctor Cousins nodded, letting Jensen know he was permitted to see Jared. “I will notify his family and friends that he is allowed to have visitors,” Doctor Cousins explained, slowly pushing himself from his chair. “And I will also give them a brief explanation of what happened to him. He’s on the second floor, room 214; if you need help finding him, one of the nurses will get out there, Mr. Ackles.”

Jensen didn’t really listen as the doctor gave him a play by play of what he planned on doing, listening only for the room number before he was out of the office and making his way to the elevator. It only took about two minutes to find Jared, Jensen’s face falling when he saw his young lover lying in the hospital bed with tubes hooked up to him and IVs in his arm. He stumbled into the room and quickly moved towards Jared, taking the younger male’s good hand in his own before he brought it up to his lips and kissed the back of Jared’s hand. “Oh baby,” he breathed, giving his head a small shake. “What did those bastards do to you?”

A few minutes later, Megan and the rest of the gang came in, cramming into the room so everyone would fit. Most of the women in the room were crying and the men were simply seething, promising revenge on whoever hurt Jared; everyone except Jensen. The older male just couldn’t think; he was lost inside his mind, trying to figure out who would want to do something like this to Jared. After all, the bruises and the split lip – the injuries as a whole – were much too extensive for this to be a random attack. No, someone who knew Jared, someone who hated Jared did this to him.

Suddenly, it hit him; Tom Welling. It was the only thing that made sense! Jared told him that Tom had come over and tried to come onto him earlier that day and Jared had turned him down; that was enough to make anyone pissed off, not to mention Tom had to feel pretty damn humiliated about being turned down. “I’m going to fucking kill him,” Jensen hissed, pushing away from the hospital bed and moving towards the door.

“Jensen, where are you going?” Christian asked his old friend, quickly moving towards the door and grabbing the younger male’s arm to keep him where he was. He’d heard Jensen mumbled something about ‘killing him’ and he sure as hell wasn’t about to let Jensen leave and get himself into trouble. “Jared needs you here, man. If he wakes up and you’re not here, what do you think he’s gonna do, Jen?”

When he was grabbed, Jensen quickly yanked his arm out of Christian’s grasp, shaking his head. “Tom did this!” he hissed, making sure to keep his voice low so that no one else would hear him. “He hurt Jared and I’m not going to let him get away with it! I’m going to rip his heart out, Chris!”

The last part he’d screamed loud enough to get the attention of the entire room, everyone staring at him as though he were crazy. “How do you know that, Jensen?” Christian asked, desperately trying to talk some sense into his friend. “You don’t know; not for sure anyway. And if you walk out that door right now and go to his house, you might let him know that we’re onto him; and if he really did this to Jared, how long do you think it’ll take him to flee?”

An almost crazed laugh escaped Jensen at Christian’s question, the younger male giving his head a small shake. “Oh, he won’t have to flee because he’ll be dead before he hits the ground!” Jensen yelled, turning to leave once more only to have Christian grab him again. “Get off me!” he yelled, catching the attention of Steve who stepped up behind Christian to act as backup in case his lover needed it.

His anger finally bubbling over, Christian yelled, “And then what, Jensen?! Huh? You’re in jail for murder and Jared’s left out here to deal with everything that’s happened to him all alone! How do you think that will make him feel?!” Grabbing Jensen’s shoulders, Christian shook him as if that would help knock some sense into him. “Don’t you understand that more than anything when he wakes up, he’s going to need you, dammit?!”

Now that Christian put it that way, Jensen started to calm down, knowing that his friend was right. Slowly, his bravado faded, the younger male looking at his friend with tear-filled eyes as he gave his head a small shake. “I should have protected him, Chris,” he chastised himself, face crumpling as he started to sob, the events of the day finally catching up to him. He would have fallen to his knees if it hadn’t been for Christian’s hold on him, Jensen just too wiped out to even care anymore. 

Of course, once he started sobbing, he set off the girls again, Megan blaming herself because it had been her ring that he’d been looking for, which was why he was even over at his old apartment in the first place. Everyone insisted that it wasn’t anyone’s fault, that whoever did this to Jared was to blame, though Megan didn’t really believe it; this was her fault and she was going to feel guilty about it for the rest of her life. And if Jared never recovered and he was never the same again, that was all going to be on her.

Once everyone was calmed down, they all got into positions where they could rest comfortably and wait for Jared to wake up. Jensen was sitting on a chair beside the hospital bed, his hand holding Jared’s lovingly as his thumb stroked the back of it. Christian and Mike were sitting together in a chair they’d swiped from the next room over while Megan and Jeffrey were sitting on the chair that was already in the room. Sandy and Alona as well as Chad and Sophia were sitting on the windowsill curled up together, a low sob escaping Alona every now and then. Gerald, Sharon, Donna, Allan, Josh and Mackenzie were all sitting in stolen chairs as well, leaving Misha and Vicky to lean against the wall and wait.

At eight thirty, Doctor Cousins came into the room once more and explained that visiting hours were over and they would all have to leave. Jensen refused to leave Jared’s side, no matter how hard they pushed at him to go. Although this too was against protocol, after some screaming and hollering from both Jared and Jensen’s family, Jensen was allowed to stay with Jared; but _only_ Jensen was allowed to stay.

Throughout the night, Jensen tried to get some sleep, but it was easier said than done; every time he closed his eyes, he would see Jared getting attacked, the younger male screaming for his help, but Jensen could never reach him in time. Finally, around three in the morning, Jensen dosed off into a light sleep, his exhaustion helping to keep the nightmares away for the most part.

**~~**

_“No…” Jared whimpered, giving his head a small shake as he felt Kerr pushing the syringe into his arm for the second time just as he was starting to get feeling back into his limbs. “Please don’t do this to me,” he whispered, shaking his head once more. “Tom, please?” He could feel the drugs working through his system already, knowing that it was only going to be a matter of time before he passed out again._

_A small chuckle escaped Kerr as he shook his own head, lips trailing down Jared’s neck and over to his shoulder, biting into the tender flesh, causing Jared to cry out in pain. “It’s okay Jared, we didn’t use as big of a dosage this time so you’re going to be awake to feel everything, baby.” Again, he smiled when Jared let out another whimper, watching as Tom moved to the waistband of Jared’s jeans and started pulling the fabric off his body, revealing more of Jared’s gorgeous figure to his eyes._

_Soft moans and whimpers escaped Jared as his jeans were pulled off his body, the younger male shaking his head as much as he could manage with the Pethidine pumping through his system with each beat of his heart. “Please…” he whispered once more, hoping to get through to a part of Tom that still felt something for him, if such a part existed. “Stop; please don’t do this to me!” When he felt Tom yanking his boxers off, Jared knew that this was going to happen and he was powerless to stop it._

_He heard laughter coming from his right side, the younger male slowly turning his head to look at his attackers, tears sliding down his cheeks. “I’m sorry Jared; if I were a good boyfriend, I would help you out of this situation,” Tom mocked, giving a small shrug. “But since I’m a bad boyfriend and I wouldn’t know what it was like to be a good boyfriend, it looks like I have no other choice but to help Kerr ravage you properly.”_

_Before Jared had a chance to answer his former boyfriend, Tom dipped his head and took Jared’s cock into his mouth, moaning around the length as his hand moved to stroke the lower half in an attempt to make Jared hard faster. As Tom sucked his dick, Kerr smiled, running his fingers through Jared’s hair tenderly before his grip turned painful. Kerr then moved to straddle Jared’s face, forcing the younger male’s head off the floor and shoving his own painfully hard member into Jared’s face, screaming at him to suck it as he shoved himself into Jared’s mouth roughly, nearly choking the younger male as he began to thrust violently._

**~~**

Jared’s eyes suddenly snapped open, the young male screaming as if he were being attacked, knocking Jensen’s hand out of his own in the process, which caused the older male to jolt awake. Hearing Jared screaming like that had Jensen spiraling into a wild panic, the older male quickly moving to grab his lover’s shoulder and attempt to make Jared calm down. “Jared,” Jensen whispered, fingers of his free hand running through the younger male’s hair. “Baby, calm down; I’m right here Jay, you’re safe! You’re safe, baby please, just calm down.”

When Jared started screaming, he alerted the attention of his nurse, the woman rushing into the room and ordering Jensen to move out of the way before she injected some morphine into Jared’s IV. It was really all she could do for him right now; make the patient comfortable until he realized that he was in a safe place surrounded by people who wanted to help him. “Don’t worry Jensen, it was only a little bit of morphine,” she explained when she noticed that Jensen was looking at her as if she were crazy.

“Is he going to be okay?” Jensen asked, knowing that Samantha would be straight with him; he had been here for nearly twenty four hours now, so he and Samantha, Jared’s nurse, were on a first name basis and for some reason, he trusted her. His hand moved to Jared’s hair once more, fingers combing through the soft strands lovingly as he waited for Samantha’s answer. Jared seemed to be a lot calmer now, but that was the drugs, Jensen was sure.

Frowning, Samantha shook her head as she explained, “I don’t know sweet heart. We still don’t have all of the information and we don’t know what emotional trauma Jared sustained during the attack.” Gently, she placed her hand on Jensen’s shoulder, offering him some comfort. “We’ll know more when Jared wakes up in the morning; if he’s lucid enough to talk, I’m sure he’ll want to tell you what’s going on in his head. And if he’s not…well, we’ll just have to wait until he is.” She gave Jensen’s shoulder a small squeeze before she turned to leave.

Although he wasn’t quite sure what was going on, Jared heard Jensen’s voice, which meant he had to be safe, right? “J-Jensen?” he asked, head turning on the pillow slowly, eyes blinking lazily up at the older male. “Please…don’t…want to sleep. Jen, please?” He could feel his eyes closing, the lids becoming too heavy to hold open, which caused the younger male to start crying, small sobs wracking Jared’s frame as he once again begged Jensen not to make him sleep.

Jensen frowned when Jared begged him to not make him sleep, the older male looking back at Samantha for answers as to what he should do. “He doesn’t want to sleep,” Jensen explained, giving his head a small shake. “Does he have to? I mean, can’t we just let him stay awake?” Samantha’s answer that Jared needed his rest seemed logical enough, but that didn’t stop the ache in Jensen’s chest from nearly consuming him. “Jared, baby you need your rest so you can get better,” he tried to explain, brushing Jared’s tears off his cheeks with the pad of his thumb. “Shhh…baby, please? I’ll be right here okay? Nothing bad is going to happen to you, I promise.”

Tears slipped down Jensen’s cheeks as he watched his lover fall asleep, Jensen feeling more helpless than he had ever felt before. Jared was hurting and there was nothing Jensen could do to make it better; it was unacceptable and Jensen wasn’t sure if he could handle this. Sighing, he resumed his position on the chair he’d been napping in before Jared woke up, once again taking Jared’s hand into his own, pressing a kiss to the back of Jared’s hand. “It’s okay baby,” he whispered to Jared’s sleeping form, the fingers of his free hand combing through Jared’s hair once more. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you ever again; I promise.”

For the remainder of the evening and well into the morning, Jensen wouldn’t allow himself to sleep, wanting to be awake if Jared happened to stir again so he could take care of the younger male and hopefully keep Jared from having to get morphine again. Even when everyone returned to the room and took their seats, Jensen stayed awake, giving one worded answers to the questions everyone asked him; he wasn’t in the mood to talk right now. He could talk when Jared woke up and was out of this hospital, safe in their house where he belonged.


	11. Chapter Eleven

It was well into the evening hours by the time Jared woke the next day, Jensen being the first thing he saw, which made the younger male smile. If Jensen hadn’t left yet, there was a good chance he had no intention of leaving him; even if he was dirty and used and sickening. This time, Jared was a lot calmer and he actually knew he wasn’t still with Tom and Kerr being attacked, which helped him to really focus on not alarming his nurse so she would pump him full of drugs again and make him go back to sleep. Sleeping was the last thing he wanted to do that was for sure.

A wide smile came to Jensen’s lips when Jared opened his eyes, the older male continuing to run his fingers through Jared’s hair as he felt joy bubble up inside him. “Hi, baby,” he whispered when Jared smiled at him, that unexplainable feeling of happiness welling up into Jensen’s chest once more. “How are you feeling Jay?” He wasn’t completely sure that he was ready for the answer, but he was going to make himself ready. After all, he had to be here for Jared; he had to be Jared’s rock through this, so he was going to have to get ready fast.

“M’good,” Jared assured Jensen with a small nod, not wanting to lay all of his problems on the older male because he figured as soon as Jensen heard what happened to him, he would leave for sure. “I’m kinda thirsty, but other than that, I’m okay.” Really, it wasn’t a complete lie; Jared was a little sore and when he moved the wrong way, his body would protest the action, but other than that, he was just fine. Well, as long as he didn’t count the nightmares when he fell asleep. 

Jensen’s smile quickly faded into a small frown when Jared told him that he was fine, Jensen not believing for one second that after Jared’s episode last night, he was just all of a sudden fine now. “Okay,” he mumbled skeptically, moving to the little table he’d pushed into the corner and grabbing the water pitcher and the small cup. “Here; drink it slowly though. I don’t want you to make yourself sick.” He had a feeling that he knew what Jared was doing and he wasn’t going to let the younger male get away with it. Jared needed to talk and get whatever happened to him out there so Jensen could help him heal. If Jared wasn’t willing to talk to him after all, there was nothing Jensen could do to help.

When Jared was finished with his water, he handed the cup back to Jensen, slowly repositioning himself on the bed so he could see Jensen better; and if there was a little extra room in the bed now where Jensen may have been able to fit, he wasn’t aware of it. “How-How long was I out?” he asked, wondering if he had been sleeping for as long as it felt. He’d felt like he’d been sleeping for days, but there was no way that could be right. After all, Jensen didn’t look like he had _that_ much stubble on his jaw. Then again, the older male could have gone home to shave, so he wasn’t really a good time marker Jared supposed.  
Taking the cup and placing it back on the table, Jensen moved back to his chair and took a seat, aware of the little space Jared left for him on his bed, but he wasn’t going to get in there and run the risk of hurting Jared further. “Well, you woke up once this morning at about five and Samantha gave you some morphine to help you get back to sleep. It seemed to work because you slept like a baby since then. And it’s about midnight now, so you got a good amount of sleep.” It probably wasn’t enough sleep for someone who was recovering from an attack, but Jensen was glad Jared had gotten at least a little bit of sleep.

Slowly, Jared nodded, letting Jensen know he understood what he was saying. “So…they kicked everyone out, huh?” he asked, hoping that was why Jensen was the only one here now. He would have liked to think that if he’d been attacked, his friends and family would at least come to see him once when they heard the news. Of course, he wasn’t going to be picky; if Jensen had been the only one to show up, he was fine with that, too. As long as Jensen was here, Jared was all right. Of course, he was a little upset that Jensen hadn’t taken the hint and climbed into the bed with him, his spirits falling a little as a voice in the back of his head told him he was dirty and gross and that was why Jensen wasn’t getting into the bed with him.

“Yeah, they usually chase them out of here by nine,” Jensen answered, Doctor Cousins giving everyone that extra half hour before he made them leave because Donna and Sharon could be very convincing when they wanted something. “But don’t worry; they’ll be back as soon as Doctor Cousins allows them into the room. They always are.” Seeing the question already forming on Jared’s lips, Jensen explained, “They let me stay here with you because your mother roughed up the doctor.” When Jared’s eyes widened in alarm, Jensen shook his head slightly, a small chuckle escaping him. “I’m only kidding. Your mother did talk to the doctor though and he agreed to let me stay with you.”

The fact that Jensen wanted to stay with him brought a small smile to Jared’s lips, the younger male not feeling as worthless as he’d felt a few minutes ago anymore. “Why do you want to be here when I’m just sleeping?” Jared asked, giving his head a small shake. “I mean, don’t you want to go home and get some decent sleep in your comfortable bed for one night?” He felt kind of bad that Jensen was staying here and sleeping in that little chair just so he could be with him; yet at the same time, it made him feel loved and important. 

Without giving it even a moment’s thought, Jensen shook his head, pressing his fingers gently to Jared’s lips to keep his lover from saying another stupid thing. “There is absolutely no other place that I’d rather be than here with you right now.” The smiled he received from Jared was enough to make him smile, Jensen once again carding his fingers through Jared’s hair in an attempt to offer the younger male some small form of comfort. “And besides, this chair is a lot more comfortable than it looks; trust me,” he lied, feeling the consequences of sleeping in the chair each time he moved. Of course, he wasn’t about to let Jared know that, well aware that the younger male was already feeling guilty about Jensen sleeping in the chair even though it wasn’t his fault.

Now, Jared was feeling _really_ good about himself, the younger male leaning into Jensen’s touch when Jensen started combing his fingers through his hair. He hadn’t even realized that he was speaking until it was too late, the younger male’s cheeks flushing red as soon as he was aware of the fact that he’d asked Jensen to hold him. If Jensen had wanted to hold him, he probably would have done it already, which meant Jensen had no interest in holding him. God, he was so damn stupid! Every time he opened his mouth, something stupid came out of it!

Jensen gasped softly when Jared asked him to hold him, biting into his bottom lip as he thought about Jared’s request. He wanted to hold Jared; more than anything, he wanted to hold Jared, but he didn’t want to hurt Jared. However, the lost puppy look on Jared’s face outweighed the possibility of hurting the younger male. “Okay baby,” he answered, slowly moving to crawl into the bed with Jared, one arm gently wrapping around his lover’s broken body. “Tell me if I’m hurting you,” he instructed as he settled down further into the bed, getting himself comfortable because he had a feeling he was going to be lying there for a while.

As soon as Jensen was in the bed with him, Jared gripped the older male’s shirt in his good hand, not wanting Jensen to get up and leave him randomly. “You’re not hurting me,” he assured Jensen with a small shake of his head, snuggling up closer to the older male as he simply enjoyed how close they were right now. “Hold me tighter,” he mumbled, his grip on Jensen’s T-shirt tightening as he snuggled in even further, breathing in Jensen’s scent in hopes that it would drown out the memories Jared didn’t want flitting around in his head.

It didn’t take a genius to know that something was off with Jared, the way he was clinging to Jensen like he was his lifeline, causing Jensen to frown softly as he started rubbing up and down Jared’s back. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked, pressing a soft kiss to Jared’s temple before he simply let his head rest there, taking comfort in the fact that Jared was here and he was alive; he was a little beat up, but he was alive and that was all that mattered. “You seem a little upset. And I mean, why wouldn’t you be with what happened, but…I’m just saying, if you need to talk, vent, unload, or whatever, I’m here for you, baby.”

Hearing Jensen’s little speech about how he was here for him if he needed him made Jared want to just cry and let it all out in the safety and comfort of his lover’s arms. But he knew that wasn’t an option; Jensen didn’t need that shit put on him. This was Jared’s baggage and he was going to deal with it; maybe it wouldn’t be pretty at times, _probably_ wouldn’t be pretty at times, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to handle it. He had to handle it for Jensen’s sake. “I’ll let you know if I feel the need,” he promised, eyes closing as he gripped Jensen tighter, holding on for dear life.

Another few hours passed slowly as they held each other, Samantha informing Jensen that she was Jared’s nurse until ten in the morning and he could hold him and lie with him as long as she was around, but warned that the other nurses weren’t as nice as she was. He thanked her as his fingers carded through his sleeping lover’s hair, letting her know that he understood what she was saying and he would just play it by ear with the other nurses.

By the time everyone arrived again, Jared was awake, sobs filling the room from the women as they all told Jared how scared he’d made them feel and scolded him for making them feel that way before they made him promise he would never do something like that again. There was one mishap with the new nurse, the woman not allowing Jensen to lie in the bed with Jared; Jensen was willing to just slip out and then get back in when Samantha came back, but Jared wasn’t having any of that, the younger male throwing a massive hissy fit until he got his way. The nurse didn’t seem too pleased, but at least Jared was happy.

“So…when can I leave?” Jared asked, looking up hopefully at his lover. “I want to leave, Jen. I don’t want to be here anymore.” The hospital was a broad, open space; anyone could just walk in here and request to see him, instantly gaining access to his room. No, Jared would feel much safer at his and Jensen’s house where no one would be able to come hurt him. Sure, Jensen was here all of the time, but he couldn’t just attack someone out in the open like this; if said person was on his property however, Jensen could always say that he was acting in self-defense. “Take me home, Jen. Please?”

A small frown came to Jensen’s lips when Jared begged him to take him home, the older male wanting nothing more than to do just that; however, he also knew that Jared was more likely to heal in the hospital rather than at their house. “Baby, I want to, but I don’t think I can,” he explained, kissing the back of Jared’s hand as his free hand moved to card through Jared’s hair once more. “We’ll ask Doctor Cousins about it when he comes in, all right?” at Jared’s nod, Jensen smiled, leaning forward slightly and grabbing Jared’s juice before handing it to him. “Here’s your juice. Drink up so you don’t get dehydrated.”

Slowly, Jared took the drink, sipping at it because he knew that Jensen didn’t like it when he drank too fast; really, the older male worried too much, though Jared kind of liked it. “Okay,” he mumbled at Jensen’s suggestion to talk to the doctor. He knew that if he really wanted to get out of here, his mother could persuade Doctor Cousins to release him; it was just some food for thought in case the doctor refused to let him leave. No matter what happened, Jared was going to be out of there by the end of the night; he didn’t care if he had to escape, he wasn’t staying there another night.

**~~**

Doctor Cousins made his first appearance around noon, the middle aged male smiling at Jared. “Sorry I wasn’t in here sooner Jared,” he apologized with a shake of his head. “So, how are feeling this afternoon? Any pain that I should know about?” As he spoke, he pulled the stethoscope from around his neck, pressing it against Jared’s chest and instructing him to take a few deep breaths. Everything sounded good, which is what he had been hoping for, the doctor giving Jared another wide smile. “All right, well everything sounds good in there, so you should be very happy. Do you have any questions for me Jared? Any concerns I can help you with?”

When Doctor Cousins asked if there was any pain that he should know about, Jared gave his head a small shake, really not feeling much of anything because of the drugs being pumped into him through his IV. He did as he was asked and breathed deeply for the older male, smiling when he was told that everything sounded good. “When I can go home?” he asked, letting the doctor know he did have a question for him. “I want to leave now; I mean, if everything is fine with me, then I should be able to go home, right?”

Although he had said that Jared was fine, Doctor Cousins wasn’t sure that the younger male was ready to be discharged. “We’ll see Jared,” he answered with a small smile. “For now, I want you to try to relax and maybe get some rest. I’ll be back later to check on you.” With that, Doctor Cousins was out the door before Jared could protest, not wanting to get caught in a war with his patient about leaving; especially when Jared’s mother was in there. That woman was a real pistol when she wanted something that he wasn’t readily willing to give. 

The frown on Jared’s face made Jensen’s heart ache, though he knew that if the doctor didn’t think he was ready to leave, then it was probably true. “Hey, why don’t we get you some food, huh?” Jensen asked, trying to cheer the younger male up. “Some real food; not that Jell-O they’ve been trying to shove down your throat since you woke up.” Turning his head towards Misha, Jensen continued, “I’m sure Misha would love to head to the cafeteria and grab you something if you let him know what you want.”

Really, Misha didn’t want to go to the cafeteria, but he knew that if Jared was hungry, he would do it for the younger male. After all, when one of your best friends is attacked and left for dead in his old apartment building, it generally makes you willing to do things for him while he’s recovering in the hospital. “Yeah, I’ll grab you something if you want it Jay,” he agreed with a small nod. When Jared answered that he wanted a cheeseburger with extra ketchup, Misha chuckled, giving his head a small shake. “All right, I’ll get it for you. Does anyone else want anything while I’m there?”

Because everyone was so hungry, Vicky offered to go with Misha and help him carry everything since it was too much food for one person to carry. Once they were out of the room, Jared relaxed further against Jensen, closing his eyes and just focusing on breathing and not thinking about how much he wanted to get out of here. Tom and Kerr were still on the loose after all and Jared didn’t want them to come visit him here; that was the last thing he wanted, actually. Of course, what was he going to say if they did come see him? There really wasn’t anything he _could_ say without raising suspicion. And he didn’t want to do that because before they left, Tom and Kerr threatened to do the same thing they had done to him to Jensen if he ever told on them; he would keep this secret to the grave if it meant that he could keep Jensen from meeting his same fate, that was for sure. 

It didn’t take Misha and Vicky long to get back, the two handing out everyone’s meals, ignoring the dirty looks they got from Jared’s nurse. She had gotten the hint that Jared wasn’t going to listen to anything she told him to do when he refused to let Jensen out of his bed, so she just wasn’t trying to make him follow the rules anymore. Jared was grateful for that of course, the younger male nearly moaning when he took a bite of his cheeseburger. He felt like he hadn’t eaten real food in days although he knew that wasn’t exactly true. One day of eating Jell-O hadn’t been _all_ that bad, he supposed.

At seven thirty, two strangers entered Jared’s room, the men dressed in neatly pressed suits, which led Jensen to believe that they were police officers. After all, Jared had been attacked and he’d had a hunch that it was only going to be a matter of time before they came to get Jared’s statement. This was finally Jared’s chance to put Tom and Kerr behind bars and Jensen was a little more pleased about it than he should have been. “Can I help you?” he asked the men, fingers once more carding through Jared’s hair when he felt the younger male tense beside him. He wasn’t sure why Jared seemed scared, but he wasn’t going to let his lover too worked up, hoping that him just being here and offering Jared comfort was enough for the time being. 

“Yes, I’m Agent Jim Beaver, this is my partner, Agent Steven Williams,” explained the gruff looking older male. “We’re here to speak with Jared about his accident.” He smiled at the younger male then, hoping to make Jared a little more comfortable; after all, if there was one thing he knew, it was rape victims and they were always a little scared and uncertain about talking with the police. And he even got some who were embarrassed to admit they had been raped although the evidence pointed straight to it; especially male victims like Jared. “Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions, Jared?”

Jared slowly shook his head when Agent Beaver asked him if they could ask him some questions, the younger male knowing that if he didn’t agree, they would think there was something wrong. Of course, Jared knew that he was going to have to lie, which he wasn’t really comfortable with, but he was kind of amazed with how much he was willing to do to keep Jensen safe. He had a feeling that Jensen would do the same for him, so he didn’t really feel all that bad about it, though he knew he was risking being attacked again if Tom and Kerr got bored. But as long as he was with Jensen, he didn’t think they would bother him; at least he hoped they wouldn’t.

Slowly, Agent Beaver nodded, letting Jared know that he understood Jared was willing to answer their questions. “All right, we’ll start off light; what do you remember about your attack, Jared?” Usually, that was the best thing to ask as sort of an ice breaker; the harder questions like who was responsible and asking if he knew his attacker would come later, which meant he had to have Jared calm now. 

Shaking his head, Jared lied, “I uh…I don’t remember much. Um…I was in my previous apartment looking for my sister’s ring and when I found it, I heard the door open. No one answered me when I asked who it was, so I walked into the entry way to get a closer look and that’s when I was grabbed.” Biting into his bottom lip, Jared continued, “I felt something pierce my arm, um…kinda like a bee sting and then everything went black. And that’s all I remember.” He left out the part about Tom and Kerr being his attackers and the more vivid details that he didn’t want anyone else, especially Jensen, to know about the rape. It had been so horrible and Jared didn’t really want to remember it himself, let alone tell Jensen what happened, afraid that if Jensen knew what had been done to him, the older male wouldn’t want him anymore.

It wasn’t uncommon for a victim to block out the events of their attack, so Jim wasn’t all that surprised when Jared didn’t remember much. The bee sting must have been the moment the perpetrators injected Jared with the Pethidine, which could also explain the memory loss. But those memories were buried inside Jared’s noggin somewhere, and it was Jim and Steven’s job to find them and bring them into the light so Jared’s attackers could be put behind bars where they belonged. After all, it took a sick individual to do what had been done to Jared and Jim didn’t want this man walking away and doing it to someone else. “All right son,” he muttered, jotting down a few notes in his notebook as his partner took over the questioning.

As Jim dot down some notes, Steven asked, “Did you get a good look at your attacker, Jared? I want you to think real hard about this before you answer.” Unlike Jim, Steven had a knack for being able to tell when someone was lying, and Jared was giving off that vibe. Now, he wasn’t going to say anything without talking with Jim first, but he was about eighty percent sure Jared was lying. 

Although Steven told him to think hard about it, Jared almost instantly shook his head, not willing to give out that kind of information. “I don’t remember,” he lied, feeling tears pricking his eyes. He turned his attention to Jensen then, hand tightening its grip on his lover’s T-shirt again. “Jen, I don’t want to do this anymore,” he mumbled, giving his head a small shake as tears slipped down his cheeks. “I don’t remember anything else. I’m sorry; I just don’t remember.”

When Jared told him he didn’t want to do this anymore, Jensen nodded, looking to the officers and giving his head a small shake. “We’re done; he doesn’t want to do this anymore, so you need to leave.” He knew that talking to police officers like that was risky, but Jensen wasn’t going to make Jared do something he wasn’t willing to do. Maybe they could come back later and Jared would remember more than he did now. Sometimes that happened with victims in Jared’s situation, he was sure.

Much to his surprise, the agents left without a fight, figuring that it Jared didn’t want to talk, there was no way they were going to squeeze more information out of him. Jim left his card with the younger male just in case Jared changed his mind, though he wasn’t going to hold his breath on that. As they walked out, Steven explained, “The kid’s lying to us. He knows exactly who hurt him and exactly what they did to him. Probably too scared to talk to us.”

“So, what do you want to do? Shake the kid down for more information and make him feel even more victimized than he already does?” Jim asked with a roll of his eyes. When Steven shook his head, Jim nodded. “All right then; there’s really nothing we can do but keep coming back and keep asking the questions that need to be asked.” Sighing, he gave a small shrug, continuing, “Maybe tomorrow he’ll be more cooperative and we can catch ourselves a rapist.”

Suddenly, Jim and Steven heard someone calling for them, stopping in their tracks and turning to see who needed their attention. “Jensen?” Jim asked, a small frown on his lips. “Was there something we could help you with? Why aren’t you with Jared?”

A small frown came to Jensen’s lips as he explained, “Jared wants to go home, so he thinks I’m getting the doctor right now.” Biting into his lip, Jensen added, “I think I might know who hurt Jared. It was his ex-boyfriend Tom; he tried to make a move on Jared earlier that day and I think he went back to try again and when Jared turned him down, he probably freaked. He had a bad temper.” When Steven asked what he wanted them to do about it, explaining that without a statement from Jared confirming that Tom was his attacker or a confession, there was almost nothing they could do. “I want to help,” Jensen answered with a nod. “Let me get a confession out of him. I can wear a wire and go in there; he’ll confess to me.” Of course, Jensen wasn’t sure if that was true, but it was worth a shot, and when he got a nod from the agents, he smiled, returning their nod as a thank you. “Where do we start?”


	12. Chapter Twelve

“All right baby, take it easy,” Jensen instructed as he held the door open for Jared, not wanting it to kick back and injure the younger male. He reached out with his free hand as Jared started climbing out of the car, making sure that Jared didn’t fall and hurt himself. “C’mon, I gotcha,” he assured his lover, arm wrapping around Jared’s waist as he helped Jared get back on solid ground. “You all right? Want me to keep my arm around you until we get you to the couch?” Jensen would have felt better about doing that, but he didn’t want Jared to feel crowded.

Slowly Jared nodded, letting Jensen know that he was okay. “M’okay,” he assured his lover, grip tightening on Jensen when the older male tried to pull away. “But…that doesn’t mean that I want you to let go.” Honestly, that was the last thing he wanted. He liked it when Jensen held him and he really wasn’t sure if he could manage to stay on his feet if Jensen let go. Of course, he couldn’t let Jensen know that because he had to be strong; if he relied too heavily on Jensen, the older male might think he was weak and Jared didn’t want that.

A small smile came to Jensen’s lips when Jared told him that just because he was fine didn’t mean that he wanted Jensen to let go, the older male wrapping his arm a little more securely around Jared. He wasn’t sure why, but it made him feel really good that Jared wanted him to hold onto him; like he was wanted and needed, which was something that Jensen liked to feel. With Kerr, he’d felt needed, but in a different way; he’d felt like Kerr only needed him around because he wanted his money, but with Jared it was like he was needed because Jared loved him and needed his support to get through the day. “Okay baby,” he smiled, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to Jared’s lips. “I’m not letting go.”

Jared’s smile matched Jensen as he allowed the older male to lead him into their home and then to the couch, wincing slightly as his sore body ached while he moved to sit down. “Sit with me?” Jared asked, pleading hazel eyes gazing up at Jensen. If he was going to be forced to sit on the couch, then he wanted some company. After all, being on the couch alone was not his idea of a good time; if that was Jensen’s plan for him, then Jared just wanted to go into their room and catch some sleep.

Nodding, Jensen answered, “Of course baby.” A small smile came to his lips as he ran his fingers through Jared’s hair briefly before cupping the younger male’s cheek. “I’m just gonna get us some drinks, ‘kay? Anything specific you want?” When Jared answered that he wanted some hot tea, Jensen smiled before he was off to the kitchen, getting the hot water pot filled before placing it on the stove and waiting for it to get ready. Once it was whistling, Jensen poured him and Jared both a cup and put tea bags in them before adding sugar, two in Jared’s and one in his own. 

Tea cups in hand, Jensen headed back into the living room and placed the cups on the coffee table before taking his seat beside Jared. “You wanna watch TV or something?” he asked, reaching for the remote. “I think there’s a _Law and Order_ marathon on.” He wasn’t really a huge _Law and Order_ fan, but there really wasn’t anything else on. Unless they wanted to watch a movie, but he wasn’t sure what was available _On Demand_ at the moment. “Or we could watch a movie; whichever you want to do. I’m good right here just like this.”

Another smile came to Jared’s face when Jensen told him that he was good just sitting here and looking at him, a slight blush creeping onto his face. “You’re just trying to suck up to me because I’m injured,” Jared chuckled, though he felt all warm inside at the comment. Jensen always knew just the right thing to say to make Jared feel special and loved; it was one of the things that made Jared so attracted to the older male. 

With a small sigh, he snuggled in against Jensen’s side, shrugging. “I don’t care what we do. Let’s pick a movie and then we can catch some _Law and Order_ ; does that sound good?” At Jensen’s nod, Jared smiled once more, dimples denting his cheeks due to his happiness. When Jensen asked which movie he wanted to watch, Jared simply shrugged once more. “Surprise me.” In all honesty, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to stay awake through the whole thing anyway; he would try though.

Unfortunately, Jared was right, the younger male falling asleep about half way through the comedy they decided to watch. Of course, Jensen didn’t mind, knowing that the younger male was probably tired because of the medication the doctors had him on and everything that had happened to him over the past week. Jared deserved some sleep as far as Jensen was concerned. However, when the movie ended, Jensen had to wake Jared up; he didn’t want the younger male to be even sorer later from sleeping on the couch for one, and he also had to use the bathroom. “Jared,” he mumbled as he gave the younger male a small nudge. “Wake up baby; s’get you to bed.”

When Jensen nudged him, Jared’s eyes snapped open, the younger male jerking awake as he was dragged from his nightmare. It took him a minute to realize where he was and remember that he was safe from Tom and Kerr, the younger male smiling at Jensen as soon as he did. “Is the movie over?” he asked, his voice still rough with sleep, his hand moving to rub at his eye in an attempt to keep some of the sleepy feelings at bay. He gave a small frown when Jensen nodded, looking in the direction of the clock as he asked, “What time is it?”

“It’s about noon,” Jensen answered, fingers carding gently through Jared’s hair. “I don’t want you to get all sore from sleeping on the couch; ‘sides, I think you might feel better if you take a nap.” He gently nudged Jared again, slowly starting to get up when Jared moved off him. “C’mon, I’ll help you to the bedroom, ‘kay baby?”

Although Jared didn’t want to sleep, he knew that Jensen was right and it probably was for the best, a small frown coming to his lips as he allowed Jensen to lift him out off of the couch and help him to the bedroom. “Hold me?” Jared asked hopefully, biting into his bottom lip as he waited for Jensen’s answer. If Jensen was with him, Jared knew that the nightmares wouldn’t be as bad; but as soon as Jensen was gone, they would come full force and Jared didn’t want that happening. If Jensen heard him screaming or something while he was sleeping, the older male would ask what was wrong and Jared didn’t want to talk about that. Jensen could never know what they had done to him.

Smiling down at Jared, Jensen nodded. “Course I will baby,” he answered. “I just have to go to the bathroom first.” Quickly, he made his way into the bathroom and did his business, washing his hands before he headed back out into their bedroom and climbed into the bed with Jared. “C’mere,” he mumbled as he wrapped his arms around Jared, pulling the younger male in close against his side before his lips pressed against the younger male’s temple. “Do you want me to turn the lights out?” he asked as he tucked Jared’s head under his chin, hoping to make the younger male feel safe in his arms. 

Jared shook his head when Jensen asked if he wanted the lights out, the younger male feeling better in a lit room these days. “This is good,” he assured Jensen, his own arms wrapping around his lover’s waist as he closed his eyes and got into a more comfortable position. “Hey Jen,” he mumbled, yawning quietly. “Do you think you could sing me that song you and Chris were working on in the hospital the other day? I liked it and it helped me sleep.”

A soft chuckle worked its way out of Jensen when Jared asked him to sing to him, the older male giving a small nod. “Yeah okay,” he whispered, kissing the top of Jared’s head before started singing. “ _He’s pretty as a picture; he is like a golden ring. Settles me with love and laughter; but I can’t feel a thing. The sky’s gonna open; people gonna pray and crawl. It’s gonna rain down fire; it’s gonna burn us all. The sky’s gonna open, people gonna pray and sing; I can’t feel a thing. I can’t feel…_ ”

It didn’t take Jared long to fall asleep with Jensen’s singing and the way he was running his fingers through his hair, the younger male praying to whoever would listen that the nightmares were held at bay. Unfortunately, Jared’s prayers weren’t answered.

_Soft groans and muffled grunts filled the air as Tom moved above Jared, his thrusts brutal and punishing, forcing more tears to slide from Jared’s eyes as he tried to break free from the cuffs. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that there was no way he could break the metal, but his drive to get out, get away from Tom and Kerr threw all logic out the window and left only a burning need to succeed. If he could just get away and get to Jensen, everything would be fine._

_Laughter from Kerr suddenly added to the sounds in the room, the other male making sure to keep his hand tightly over Jared’s mouth even as the younger male moved his head in a desperate attempt to get away. After all, Jared still had neighbors and they didn’t want to draw attention to this apartment. Jared was supposed to be gone because he lived with Jensen now, so even the slightest strange noise would bring unwanted visitors. “You like that don’t you, ya little slut?” Kerr hounded, taking a long pull from his beer bottle. “C’mon Tom, give it to him harder; the slut likes it.”_

_Tom chuckled as Kerr egged him on, doing as his lover instructed and thrusting into Jared faster, his actions more brutal with each snap of his pelvis, causing Jared to groan in pain behind Kerr’s palm. “You want to join me baby?” Tom asked, smiling over at Kerr. “Jay’s a big boy, he can take it.” Really, Tom wasn’t sure if Jared could, but he was willing to take that chance. Sure, it was going to hurt like a bitch, but the whole point of this was to hurt Jared; after all, the younger male needed to be punished for treating Tom the way he had and Tom wanted to make sure this lesson stuck. The more painful the better as far as he was concerned._

_“Mmmm…” Kerr moaned with a small nod, already moving to join in. “I thought you were never going to ask.” He waited a moment while Tom repositioned himself and Jared before he got under Jared, stroking himself a few times before he nodded to his lover, letting him know he was ready. “Do it baby,” he purred, hands moving to slide up Tom’s back, short blunt nails leaving red scratches in their wake._

_A pained cry ripped from Jared’s throat as Tom lowered him down onto Kerr’s erect member, the other male’s penis sliding into Jared alongside Tom’s own which was still lodged inside Jared, stretching the younger male further than he had ever been forced to stretch. “Oh God please stop!” Jared cried, trying to stay completely still because the pain was always there when he was forced to move. However, Tom and Kerr weren’t going to let him stay still, both men already moving their hips as soft grunts spilled from between their lips._

Suddenly, Jared jack-knifed awake, screaming from the memories that had just been bombarding him. The first thing he realized was that he was alone, the younger male looking around the room frantically for Jensen though there was no sign of him. “Jen?!” Jared called out, whipping the blankets off himself and slowly climbing out of the bed. “Jensen?!” Fear was trickling through his system as Jared headed to the bedroom door, intent on getting out of here and finding Jensen wherever the older male may have been. 

When the door to the bedroom opened, Alona and Sandy quickly rushed over, a small frown on their faces as they looked at Jared struggling to get out of the room; he seemed to be in a panicked state and neither of the women liked the idea of that. “Jared, sweetie, what are you doing?” Sandy asked, moving to grab Jared’s elbow and keep him stable as best as she could. “You’re supposed to be in bed. Jensen said he wanted you to stay there until he got back. C’mon, I’ll help you get back there.”

As Sandy tried to help him back into the bedroom, Jared shook his head, pulling his arm away from his friend. “Where’s Jensen?” he asked, forcing his aching body to take a few more steps towards the living room. He was willing to leave the house if he had to, which meant he was going to need some shoes. “I want Jen, so no, I will not go back to bed. I’m sorry, but you can’t make me.”

Sighing, Sandy answered, “You’re right, I can’t make you. But I’m just the messenger. I would prefer you go back to bed, but I’m not going to freak out if you don’t.” Moving to Alona’s side once more, Sandy added, “But if you’re looking for Jensen, you’re wasting your time. He’s not home right now. That’s why we’re here.”

Jared spun around so quickly when Sandy told him that Jensen wasn’t there that he almost fell on his face, the younger male quickly reaching out and grabbing the counter to keep himself upright. “Where did he go?” he asked, that familiar sense of fear settling in the pit of his belly, Jared thinking that Jensen had finally wised up and left him.

**~~**

“So, it’s kinda like in the movies?” Jensen asked, frowning slightly as Agent Steven Williams attached the wire to his chest with medical tape. He wasn’t sure why they were using medical tape, but when he’d asked Agent Williams, the older male had gotten snooty with him and told him “just ‘cause they were”. It wasn’t really an answer, but Jensen wasn’t about to ask again; Williams seemed to be in a bad mood today.

Although Williams’ had told Jensen not to talk, Jim actually liked that the kid was asking questions and getting as much information about the mission as he could. “Pretty much; only we actually use the information to catch criminals and in the movies, it’s usually all for entertainment.” Smiling, he watched as Steven moved away from Jensen and the younger male let his shirt drop down to cover his torso. “All right, let’s test this bad boy before we send you into action.”

Once they clarified that the device was working, Williams and Beaver sent Jensen on his way to the residency of Kerr Smith, both men now aware that he and Tom Welling shared a rental home on the Upper East Side. They weren’t sure if Jensen’s theory was correct, but if it was, they were about to blow this case out of the water, which was going to get them not only the satisfaction of putting away a creep, but also a nice bonus. And after the year they’d had, they really needed a winning case.

Nerves standing on edge, Jensen raised his hand and knocked a few times on Kerr’s door. He didn’t have a plan for going in, only knowing that he had to get a confession out of Tom and making that his only goal. There was a chance he could use Kerr to get it he was sure, and if that was necessary, he would definitely do it. After all, the sooner they had Tom behind bars where he belonged, the better as far as Jensen was concerned. And Jensen wanted the little prick to pay for what he had done to Jared, that was for sure.

The door opened after the first few knocks, Kerr’s eyes widening a minute before he steeled his features once more. “Jensen, what are you doing here?” he asked, standing with his frame blocking the doorway so Jensen couldn’t get in if he wanted to. After all, if Jensen was here it wasn’t for something good Kerr was guessing so he wanted the older male to stay out of his apartment. Well, unless Jensen was coming to beg for him back; then he could come into the apartment and Kerr wouldn’t have the slightest problem with that.

Jensen slapped on the most genuine smile he could manage when Kerr asked him what he was doing there, giving a small shrug. “Nothing really,” he answered with a shake of his head. “I just wanted to talk to Tom, actually. Is he around?” It wasn’t a complete lie; Jensen really did want to talk to Tom. Now, he couldn’t promise the conversation was going to be all sunshine and daisies, but he wasn’t going to attack Tom; well, maybe not.

Slowly, Kerr nodded, a little skeptical about what was going on here. But he knew Jensen and the one thing the other male could never be was cruel or nasty. He was the nicest, most giving person Kerr knew, so he wasn’t really all that worried about Tom’s safety. “Tom!” he called, stepping aside and letting Jensen into the apartment. “Where are you, babe? We got company!” When Tom didn’t answer, Kerr rolled his eyes, excusing himself as he ran up the stairs to go find Tom. “Tom, what the fuck man?” he asked, eyes wide as he saw what his lover was watching, quickly moving to turn it off just as Tom shoved the head of a beer bottle into Jared’s hole. “Jensen’s downstairs,” he explained, keeping his voice a low hiss. “If he fucking sees this, your ass is in trouble. Now get the hell down there.”

“What’s he here to see me for?” Tom asked, clearly in a grumpy mood as he moved to tuck his still hard member back into his jeans before he stood and zipped up. “I don’t even like the damn man and now he’s making social calls? What the hell does he want?” If anything, Tom would have figured Jensen was here to see Kerr; never in a million years did he think Jensen would come here to see him.

Rolling his eyes, Kerr grabbed the tape Tom had been watching and shoved it into one of the boxes of pornos his lover kept by the bed. “I don’t know, Tom,” he answered just as grumpy. “I didn’t ask the man why he wanted to see you.” Now that he was thinking though, it probably would have been a good idea; oh well, too little too late. “Just get down there. And try to hide the fact that you’re hard as a rock too. We’re supposed to look like our relationship is as good as Jensen’s and Jared’s used to be and that won’t sell if you’ve got an erection!”

There was really nothing Tom could do about his hard on, mumbling that Kerr should have let him watch the rest of the video as he made his way down the stairs. Ever since the night he and Kerr had attacked Jared, the video he’d made had been his choice of material to use while he was jerking off since he and Kerr didn’t really have sex anymore. Kerr regretted having hurt Jared after the drugs wore off and now he seemed to be pissed at Tom more often than not. It didn’t really matter to Tom though; he was getting a little nookie on the side from a cute little ass in his office these days. “Jensen, what can I do for you?” he asked as he stepped off the last stair.

When he heard his name, Jensen whirled around, frowning at Tom as the other male took a few steps closer to him. He’d had a plan all worked out in his head, but seeing Tom right here like this, with that damn smug smile on his lips and the obvious bulge in his jeans, Jensen lost it. “What the hell did you do to Jared, you sonuvabitch?!” he asked, closing the gap between himself and Tom before his hands wrapped around the other male’s shirt collar, yanking him up close so that he was screaming in his face. “Tell me! I want every detail; do you hear me?! Tell me what the hell you did to him!”

Although he was a little worried about what Jensen was planning on doing to him, Tom knew right away that Jensen already had it figured out that he had been the one who hurt Jared, so he wasn’t going to deny it. Of course, he wasn’t going to outright say he raped the younger male either; he had plans to play with Jensen a little bit first. “I didn’t do anything to Jared that he didn’t want done to him,” Tom answered with a cruel sneer. “Hell, I didn’t do anything the little slut didn’t _beg_ for. Really Jensen, you should get to know someone a little better before you start dating them; Jared is nothing but a little slut who gets off on pain. I only gave him what you wouldn’t.”

Before Jensen even had time to really think about what he was doing, he pulled his fist back and let it fly forward, hitting Tom solidly in the jaw before he pulled his fist back again and got it ready. “I’ll fucking do it again, I swear,” he warned. “Tell me the truth _now_. Or I’m _really_ gonna start throwing punches. You thought that hurt? Well that was just a love tap, you dick!”

Kerr let out a very girly shriek when Jensen hit Tom, the other male never having seen Jensen act this way before. The first punch looked like it hurt and now Jensen was threating to do it again?! No, there was no way he could let Tom get hurt like that; he was a dick sure, but somewhere deep inside him, Kerr still felt something for Tom. “All right Jensen, just calm down! I’ll tell you what you want to know, okay?!” He ignored the hissed warning to shut his mouth from Tom, instead explaining the whole thing to Jensen, lying about a few minor details to keep from incriminating himself, of course. “Tom raped Jared. He was lying on the floor begging Tom not to hurt him when I got there, but Tom wouldn’t listen! He was like a man possessed and I just froze; I couldn’t stop Tom until it was too late!”

Listening to Kerr lie right in front of him like this, Tom’s eyes widened. “You spineless little prick!” he yelled, shaking his head. “He’s lying! He was right there with me doing everything I did to Jared and then some!” When Kerr insisted that Tom was lying, Tom smiled as he turned his attention back to Jensen. “I have proof. If you let me go, I’ll show it to you and then we can see who’s lying.”

He was tempted to say yes, especially when he caught a glimpse of the look on Kerr’s face, though he knew that he had more important things to do right now. Angrily, he shoved Tom away from him before shaking his head. “You’re both sick,” he spat, taking a few steps away from the two of them. “And you’re both going to pay for what you did to Jared.”

Almost as if on cue, the door burst open and Steven and Jim rushed inside, guns at the ready as they screamed, “Hands in the air!” Jensen didn’t stick around for the rest, quickly turning and heading out the door, deciding to wait for Steven and Jim to give him further instructions and to take this damn wire off of him outside by their car.

It was satisfying seeing Kerr and Tom coming out of their house in handcuffs, though Jensen wasn’t really thinking too much on it at the moment. He was too worried about getting back to his own house; getting back to Jared. “You did good, son,” Jim congratulated, giving Jensen a pat on the back. “Williams, get this thing off him and let the boy get home!” 

Once he had the wire off, Jensen climbed into his truck and headed back to his place, quickly rushing through the door and hoping that Jared was still sleeping though he should have known better. He wrapped his arms around the younger male when Jared all but threw himself into Jensen’s arms, fingers carding through Jared’s hair as he apologized for leaving him, Jared’s broken sobs that he’d promised not to leave him cutting into him like a knife. “I know baby, I’m sorry,” he whispered into the younger male’s hair, pressing a kiss to Jared’s temple. “I’m here now though; and everything’s gonna be okay, baby. I promise I won’t leave you again, okay?”

When he finally got Jared calmed down, Jensen thanked Alona and Sandy for staying with him while Jensen had been gone, showing the women to the door before he returned to his spot on the couch, Jared instantly curling up next to him. “Where were you?” Jared asked as he closed his eyes, head resting on Jensen’s chest, listening to the older male’s heartbeat.

“I just had to run an errand, baby,” Jensen explained. “Nothing for you to worry about.” Slowly, he moved to grab the remote, turning on the television to some movie that was playing as he simply held Jared, not even really paying attention to what they were watching. He was actually starting to doze off before his cell phone rang, causing the older male to jolt back to full alertness. “Hello?” he answered, a small frown coming to his lips as he listened to the voice on the other line. “What do you mean you need more?” he demanded, head shaking slightly. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, you better find something else we can use on them! He said they had proof, well go back to the house and find it, dammit!”

Jared frowned when Jensen slammed the phone closed, tossing the device onto the coffee table. “What’s wrong babe?” he asked, hand slowly smoothing up Jensen’s chest to rub behind his neck, knowing his lover liked it when he did that. He had been willing to believe that Jensen had only been running a meaningless errand earlier, but after that phone call, Jared knew something was up and he was determined to get Jensen to explain what was going on. 

Although he wanted to keep Jared in the dark and not bring up bad memories again, Jensen knew that wasn’t an option right now. “I know who hurt you, baby,” he whispered, sad green eyes locking with scared hazel ones. “And I got them confessing on tape. But…that was Jim and he said they need more than just their confession; it’s likely the confession is going to get thrown out because I was an idiot and I hit Tom. But if you tell them what happened, tell them who hurt you – and don’t say you don’t know because I could tell that was a lie – we can put them away, baby. For good; they won’t be able to hurt you anymore. Please?”

If it had been anyone other than Jensen asking, Jared knew his answer would have been no way in Hell, but this was Jensen. He had put his life on the line, in Jared’s mind, to get a confession out of Jared’s attackers and it was only right for Jared to face his fears and speak up. After all, if Kerr and Tom were in jail, there was no way they could hurt Jensen. “Okay,” he mumbled quietly, nodding slightly. “I’ll do it. I’ll tell them everything.”


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Jared sat in the interrogation room nervously tapping his foot as he waited for Jim Beaver and Steven Williams to get into the room. He had Jensen beside him, which was probably the only thing keeping him from bolting right now; the truth had to come out after all, which meant Jared had to man up and explain what had happened to him. Even if it meant losing Jensen forever; the older male had gone to Tom and Kerr’s house and got their confession after all so Jared couldn’t just keep their names bottled up just so he wouldn’t have to risk losing Jensen, no matter how much he wanted to.

Minutes ticked by and Jared was starting to rethink his decision of coming here; no matter how many times he told himself this was the right thing to do, something felt off about this. Maybe it was just the police station in itself; he had been here a few times because of Tom and he hadn’t really liked it back then either. He was hoping the way he was feeling now was only because of those memories and nothing else that might be lying in wait to ruin Jared’s life. In his opinion, he had suffered enough; he just wanted the Fates to leave him alone for at least a year. One year; that was all he was asking for.

He was just about to turn to Jensen and ask if they could leave when the door opened, Jim and Steven walking inside followed by a man Jared had never seen before, which made the younger male even more nervous. After what had happened to him, Jared didn’t really trust new faces anymore. However, when he felt Jensen’s hand on his knee under the table, Jared felt some of his tension melting away, the younger male moving his own hand so that he was holding Jensen’s under the table, lacing their fingers together.

“Sorry to keep you boys waiting,” Jim started, grabbing up a file and taking a seat across from Jared before Steven moved to take the seat beside him. The new man stayed standing, leaning against a wall with his eyes on Jared and Jensen. “This is Mark Pellegrino; he’s Tom and Kerr’s lawyer. He asked if he could be present and we allowed it. I hope you don’t mind, Jared.” When Jared shook his head, Jim smiled, grabbing a pen from his jacket pocket. “Well, let’s get started, shall we? Jared, tell me everything you remember about the night of October 28, 2011, please. And take your time; there’s no pressure.”

Two weeks had come and gone and the nightmares were still haunting him, leaving Jared to wonder if he was ever going to be able to get the horrible memories out of his head. Even to this day he sometimes woke in cold sweats crying out Jensen’s name. Luckily, the older male was there every time to make sure Jared had someone to hold on to; make sure Jared had someone he could trust to act as his anchor. Having Jensen there helped a lot, though Jared was far from being one hundred percent.

But Jared wasn’t thinking about all of that right now. All he was thinking about were the memories that were haunting his dreams, not the cold sweats and hours spent crying afterward. “Um…I was at my old apartment,” he started, knowing that he’d already told the police this but figuring he should start from the beginning again. “Megan, my sister, called me and asked if she’d dropped her favorite ring there, so I went over to look for it. When I found it, I heard someone come in and I thought it was Jensen, so I called for him. But when I got no answer, I headed towards the landing, thinking that maybe whoever had come in hadn’t heard me shouting. It wasn’t Jensen who was there; it was Tom and he looked…upset. He shoved me into the wall before he kissed me and then told me he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Then he um…told me to stop struggling and he shoved me into the wall harder.”

Closing his eyes, Jared took a slow, calming breath before he continued with his story. “I told him to let me go, but he wouldn’t listen. And then he kissed me again; he held my chin in place so I couldn’t stop it. He was mumbling something into my ear then and I could tell that he was on something, so I asked if he was high. That’s when Kerr came out of nowhere and confirmed that they were both high.” He bit into his bottom lip as he went on to explain, “Kerr told me not to worry because they had something for me too. I said no and tried to get away, but Tom was still holding me. After I told Kerr not to touch me, Tom hit me and I fell on the floor. When he picked me up off the ground, Tom hit me and told me to stop struggling again. And then he told Kerr to give him the syringe if he wasn’t going to use it, but Kerr slapped his hands away and injected me with the drug.” A tear slipped down Jared’s cheek as he added, “The last thing I remember before I passed out was Tom taking off my shirt.”

After a few minutes of silence from Jared’s end, Jim knew that he was going to have to push the younger male a little to get more out of him. That wasn’t the whole story he was sure, so there was more to be told. “And then what happened Jared?” he asked apologetically, knowing that this must be hard for the younger male. Though Jim had to give Jared props; he was holding up a lot better than some of the victims who came in here to give their statements. Most were blubbering messes screaming about their attacker threating to come back for them and kill them if they ever told anyone. But not Jared; he was doing very well and Jim was proud of him, for what that was worth.

Jared took another deep, calming breath as he gave himself a silent pep talk to get himself going again. Now came the hard part; Jared was actually going to have to get into the rape and he wasn’t sure he could do it. He didn’t want Jensen to know what they’d done to him; didn’t want his lover to know every horrid, vile detail of his attack because he was afraid Jensen would leave him if he knew the truth. And if there was one thing Jared knew for sure, it was that there was no way he could ever recover without Jensen. 

Nevertheless, Jared knew that Jim and Steven needed to know what happened so they could put Tom and Kerr away for what they did; that knowledge was really the only thing that made him open his mouth again. “I don’t know how long I was out,” he continued with a small shake of his head, “but when I woke up, my hands were cuffed behind my back and I couldn’t see where they were.” His hand under the table squeezed Jensen’s tightly, the memories all coming back to Jared in a rush and threatening to choke the younger male. Usually, Jared tried not to think about what happened to him, but now that it was being forced on him, he felt like he was right there being attacked again.

When Jared squeezed his hand like that, Jensen frowned, ignoring the pain now radiating from his hand up to his wrist. His own hand squeezed Jared’s hand as tightly as he was able to, letting Jared know he was there for him. He hated this; Jared should never have had to deal with something like this. “Jay?” he asked, concern clear in his tone as he scooted a bit closer to Jared, his free arm wrapping around the younger male’s back to offer up as much comfort as he possibly could and help Jared get through this. “Are you okay? We don’t have to do this baby; we can go home if you want to.”

“Jensen,” Steven warned, glaring at the younger male. Jared had already started telling the story and they were just about to get to the good part; there was no way he was going to let Jensen screw this up for them. “It’s all right Jared, just keep going. Tell us what happened next.” He didn’t know who Jensen thought he was telling, Jared he didn’t have to keep going, but that wasn’t the case. If Jared didn’t talk, he was getting in the way of this investigation and Steven would make sure Jared – and Jensen – were slapped with charges because of it. 

A small frown came to Jensen’s lips when Steven tried to force Jared to remember what happened and then talk about it. “Baby, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Jensen countered, shooting Steven a glare of his own. He wasn’t just going to sit here and let Steven harass Jared like this; the younger male had already been put through enough and Jensen wasn’t going to let Steven bully him into taking more shit. Even if Jared not talking meant Tom and Kerr would never be punished, he wasn’t forcing Jared to do anything he didn’t want to that was for damn sure. Getting those two dicks in jail wasn’t worth putting Jared through this.

Before Steven could say anything else, Jared shook his head, free hand tugging at Jensen’s shirt. “No, Steven’s right Jen,” he mumbled. “I have to tell them what happened. It’s the only way Tom and Kerr are going to get the punishment they deserve.” He kept his hand in Jensen’s though he loosened his grip as he turned his attention back to the agents and the attorney in the room. “Tom was the first one to touch me again when I finally figured out where they were, though Kerr didn’t wait too long before he started too. I begged them not to do this to me; begged Tom in particular because I’d hoped that he still felt something for me deep down and I could reach that part of him. But it was useless. They didn’t listen to me. Kerr was kissing my neck and he told me that they hadn’t used such a large dose of Pethidine the second time around so I wouldn’t pass out and I would be awake to feel everything.

“Tom told me that if he had been a good boyfriend, or if he knew how to be a good boyfriend, he would have helped me, but since he didn’t, he said he was going to have to let Kerr ravage me with him.” When Jim stopped him and asked why Tom had mentioned something about being a good boyfriend, Jared frowned slightly before he answered, “Because earlier that day when he came by, I told him he had been a horrible boyfriend and that he didn’t know how to be a good boyfriend.” Biting into his bottom lip, Jared continued, “By that time, Tom already had my jeans and boxers off and before I could say anything else, he um…started performing oral sex on me.” Jared wasn’t sure if that was the way to describe it exactly, but he didn’t think saying “he started sucking my dick” would have been appropriate, either. “And then Kerr straddled my face and made me do the same to him.”

Jensen’s blood began to boil even more as Jared continued with the story, the older male wanting nothing more right now than to go find Kerr and kick his ass. And the man actually had the audacity to tell Jensen that he hadn’t done anything to Jared and it had all been Tom?! The next time Jensen saw Kerr, he was going to make it a point to put his foot in his ass that was for sure. His free hand moved to Jared’s back then, rubbing slow, soothing circles into the younger male’s skin in hopes that Jared would feel better talking about this. After all, Jensen felt pretty useless right now because he hadn’t been there to stop this from happening, so this little form of comfort was all he was good for at the moment as far as he was concerned. 

The little bit of comfort Jensen was offering up really was helping Jared, the younger male smiling at his lover softly as he squeezed Jensen’s hand once more. He almost forgot that they weren’t home and safe away from everyone else until Steven urged him to continue. “Um…that went on for a while but I’m not sure exactly how long. Kerr pulled out of my mouth and came all over my face and that’s when it was over. And that’s also when they injected me with more medication to make sure I didn’t gain control of my body again while they were still playing with me – or at least that’s what they called it.

“When they were done with oral, they moved on. Tom was the first one to have sex with me and then when he reached his climax, it was Kerr’s turn. Once they were finished with me, they told me they needed time to rejuvenate so they used…objects instead of their penises.” Tears formed behind Jared’s eyes at the memory of Tom pushing a beer bottle inside him and then Kerr roughly shoving his fingers into Jared’s abused hole, though Jared didn’t allow them to fall; he didn’t want them to have control over him anymore. He was stronger than they were and he wasn’t going to let Tom and Kerr get to him.

Although he tried not to act surprised by what Tom and Kerr had done to Jared for the younger male’s sake, Jensen nearly lost the little bit of food he had eaten that day when Jared went on to explain that Kerr and Tom had sodomized him with objects. Of course, the doctor touched base on that idea when Jensen had first gotten to the hospital, but to hear Jared explain it like this – that was a completely different story. He could see the tears behind Jared’s eyes threating to fall and he hated it. “Baby?” he whispered, giving Jared a look which silently asked the question of whether he wanted to continue or not. 

With a small shake of his head in Jensen’s direction, Jared explained, “Once they were ready, Tom starting raping me again. Kerr was holding his hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream because my neighbors thought I was already gone while Tom was forcing me to have sex with him. I could hear Kerr telling Tom to do it harder and telling me that I liked it; calling me a slut. That’s when Tom asked if Kerr wanted to join in…and he did. They um…both…raped me at the same time. I screamed so loudly that I thought I’d broken my vocal chords, but no one came into the room and they didn’t stop either.” Taking another deep breath, Jared finished, “I blacked out after that and when I woke up, I was in the hospital.”

Jim was about to thank Jared for his cooperation when the door suddenly opened and the chief popped his head inside. “Beaver, Williams; you might want to come take a look at this,” he explained, giving them a stern stare that told them no wasn’t an option here. He had his men searching Tom and Kerr’s apartment for that proof Tom had been talking about and they’d found what they were looking for. Showing the men the video tape, he explained, “We found this in their porn collection. It seems they have been watching it while they were…pleasuring either themselves or each other because it has definitely been viewed.”

Suddenly, Jared spoke behind them, all three men whirling around with shocked expressions on their faces; they hadn’t expected Jared to come out of the interrogation room. “They videotaped it?!” Jared asked, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. It was one thing to rape someone and enjoy it as much as they had, but to videotape it and keep it to watch later? That was a whole new level of sick psychopath in Jared’s opinion.

“They what?!” Jensen asked, his anger clear on his features. “I’m gonna kill ‘em!” he growled, already moving to head into the cell where he knew they were keeping Tom and Kerr locked up until it was time for their hearing. However, when Jared grabbed his arm, Jensen stopped, attention turning back to his lover as Jared shook his head, pleading with Jensen with his eyes to just stay with him. If Jensen hadn’t been so worried about Jared at the moment, he would have left, but it was better for him to stay with his lover right now. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around Jared and held the younger male, fingers running through Jared’s hair as he pressed a kiss to his lover’s temple. “Are you okay?” he asked, feeling as though that seemed to be the question of the day.

When Jared nodded to let Jensen know that he was all right, Jim figured that was the best time to give him the information about how this bad, horrible thing could actually be good news. “On the plus side of this Jared,” he started, handing the tape to his partner as he turned his attention fully on the two men in front of him. “Now that we have the tape, we can add it to your confession and put those bastards away for a long time. There’s no way they can deny what they’ve done now that we have video evidence of the crime.”

The new information caused Mark Pellegrino to sigh, the attorney knowing that he had already lost the case before it even began now that they had a confession, Jared’s statement, and a videotape of the crime; this case was definitely over. “What are you offering?” Mark asked, attention on Steven and Jim as he pulled a pen out of his pocket, ready to talk deals.

**~~**

 _Six Months Later_  
“Stop it!” Misha yelled as Sandy and Alona chased him through the yard and shot him with water guns, both girls, and even Vicky who was sitting on the sidelines, giggling as the older male shrieked like a girl when Alona shot him in the ass. “Jared, can’t you control these wild beasts?!” Misha hollered at his friend as Jared brought out more veggies to put in the veggie tray on the picnic table.

Chuckling, Jared shook his head before he answered, “You’re the one who gave them the water guns, so you’re the one who has to deal with the consequences!” He’d warned Misha not to give them the guns after all, but he hadn’t listened, so there was nothing more Jared could do. Once the veggies were in the tray, Jared turned and headed back into the kitchen, helping Donna and Sharon with the drinks they were carrying out to the cooler. 

With the drinks in the cooler and the veggies set out for snacks, Jared moved to the grill where Jensen was cooking up some steaks with their fathers, smiling politely in the greeting to both men. He hadn’t caught the whole conversation, but it seemed as though Allan and Gerald were trying to rope Jensen into going fishing with them sometime; Jared wasn’t a big fisherman, so he wasn’t about to go, but if Jensen wanted to, then Jared surely wasn’t going to hold him back. 

When Gerald and Allan saw Jared coming, both men made up some excuse about having to help their wives with something before hastily making an exit, wanting to give Jensen and Jared some time alone. After all, with the party going on and everyone being here, the boys weren’t really getting much alone time today. “Hi, baby,” Jensen greeted when he noticed Jared was standing behind him, leaving his grill for a moment to kiss Jared’s lips before returning to his work. “Having a good birthday?”

A wide smile came to Jared’s lips as he nodded in answer, looking around the yard at all of their friends and their family members who were here to celebrate his birthday with him. “I’m having a great birthday,” he assured his lover, moving closer to Jensen. “And you know what would make it even better?” Hands on Jensen’s hips, Jared leaned in and whispered in the older male’s ear, “Being with you tonight. I-I think I’m ready.”

It had been six months since the rape and in those six months, Jared hadn’t been able to be intimate with Jensen because the memories would come up and Jared would have to stop. But Tom and Kerr had been sentenced to a total of thirty one years in prison each, which meant Jared had won. He’d gotten justice for what they did to him and now it was time to move on. And he was _ready_ to move on.  
Jensen’s eyes widened when Jared told him that he was ready for sex, the older male turning to look back at Jared. “Are you sure?” he asked, knowing that sometimes Jared did things just to make him happy and he wasn’t willing to let Jared do that right now; not with sex when it was such a touchy subject these days. And Jensen had no problems waiting. He would wait forever as long as it meant he got to stay with Jared; he didn’t need sex. However, when Jared nodded, Jensen could tell just by the look on Jared’s face that he was serious and that he was actually ready and doing this for himself and not Jensen. “Okay, I think I can make that happen then,” he smiled, kissing Jared’s lips once more before he patted his lover’s ass. “Now go make sure Christian and Steve aren’t trying to blow up the house while I get these steaks to the table and feed the masses.”

Laughter erupted from Jared’s throat as he turned and headed towards the house where he knew Steve and Christian were hiding; they were probably just making out or something, but now that Jensen mentioned it, he was a little worried the two were going to break something. They really were troublemakers when it came right down to it, though Jared wasn’t sure if it was their fault; they just had a knack for getting into trouble, he supposed.

After dinner, they lounged for a while, everyone sitting at the large picnic table in the middle of the yard and just enjoying each other’s company. Cake was brought out just before dark and Jared’s mother told him to make a wish before he blew out the candles. Smiling, he gave Jensen a quick glance when his lover gripped his knee, hand moving to cover Jensen’s before he made his wish and blew out all of the candles in one try.


End file.
